December 25 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 77
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Kahului, Maui – 80
Hilo, Hawaii – 78
Kailua-kona – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 81F
Hilo, Hawaii – 72F
Haleakala Crater – 41 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 27 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Wednesday afternoon:
1.37 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.60 Manoa Valley, Oahu
0.10 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
4.85 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.66 Pahoa, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a strong 1035 millibar high pressure system far to the north-northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. This trade wind producing high pressure system will cause locally strong and gusty trade winds through Christmas Day.
Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the
Aloha Paragraphs
Merry Christmas…Glenn
Photo Credit: Pacific Disaster Center
The trade winds are getting stronger now, and will remain blustery through Friday…before calming down over the weekend. A strong 1035 millibar high pressure system, has moved into the area north-northeast of Hawaii. This has increased our local wind speeds at the surface, with small craft wind advisories active from Kauai right down to the Big Island. Meanwhile, the winds are gusty atop the summits of Maui and the Big Island too, where a wind advisory remains in effect…gusting up to 40-50 mph at times. The gusty trade winds will persist through Friday, then give way to lighter winds this weekend into early next week.
We’ve moved into a wetter weather pattern now, with increased windward showers, then becoming potentially heavier…especially over the islands of Maui County and the Big Island Friday. As the trade winds have increased, we’re seeing showery clouds being carried our way, bringing an increase in rainfall along our windward sides over the next couple of days. Then, an upper level low pressure system, now to our east, will get closer, or over us. This low will enhance the incoming showers, which may spread over into some leeward areas Friday into the weekend. As the low pressure cell gets very near, or over our islands, our gusty winds will calm down. We may find localized heavy showers Friday into the weekend, with a possible thunderstorm forming near Maui and the Big Island.
It’s Wednesday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I start writing this last paragraph. As we move into our Christmas holiday period, we will also be grading into windy and wetter weather circumstances. The trade winds will remain wet over the next few days, along with being locally blustery. As a low pressure system, still to our east, moves closer, those windward showers will be enhanced. If the low gets right over us, as some of the computer models suggest, we could see off and on heavy rains Friday into the weekend…with potential for flooding precipitation then. We will have to keep a close eye on this situation. This wet period will continue on into Monday, with a break occurring then. ~~~ I left Kihei a bit early today, and found some showers falling as I drove up the Haleakala Highway through Pukalani. These showers fell behind me as I got up to Kula, where it was partly sunny, warm and dry. Looking over towards the windward side though, those showers seem to be heading our way. My wind chimes are sounding off all the sudden, with the gusty trade winds trying to stretch over here as well. ~~~ I have a friend who just flew in, arriving from Marin County, just north of San Francisco. She will join my neighbors and I, when we start off our Christmas Eve festivities with a nice walk before sunset. We will likely have a glass of red wine, and then begin slowly eating some really great food that we have prepared. I hope that you have a great Christmas wherever you happen to be reading from. Either in some snowy area on the Mainland, or in the windward showers here in Hawaii, or along the still nice weather conditions on our leeward sides. I will come back online Christmas Day with the next new weather narrative from paradise. Again, Merry Christmas! That picture of me above was taken today, sending you my famous flying shaka, the same one that I’ve ended my TV weather show with all these years. Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: All that chocolate might actually help finish the bumper Christmas crossword over the seasonal period. According to Oxford researchers working with colleagues in Norway, chocolate, wine and tea enhance cognitive performance. The team from Oxford’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics and Norway examined the relation between cognitive performance and the intake of three common foodstuffs that contain flavonoids (chocolate, wine, and tea) in 2,031 older people (aged between 70 and 74). Participants filled in information about their habitual food intake and underwent a battery of cognitive tests. Those who consumed chocolate, wine, or tea had significantly better mean test scores and lower prevalence of poor cognitive performance than those who did not.
The team reported their findings in the Journal of Nutrition. The role of micronutrients in age-related cognitive decline is being increasingly studied. Fruits and beverages such as tea, red wine, cocoa, and coffee are major dietary sources of polyphenols, micronutrients found in plant-derived foods. The largest subclass of dietary polyphenols is flavonoids, and it has been reported in the past that those who consume lots of flavonoids have a lower incidence of dementia. The latest findings seem to support the theory, although the researchers caution that more research would be needed to prove that it was flavonoids, rather than some other aspect of the foods studied, that made the difference. The effect was most pronounced for wine.
Interesting2: Extremes are exciting. Does anyone really think dinosaurs would capture our imagination the way they do if they hadn’t been so huge? You don’t see natural history museums vying for fossil skeletons of prehistoric rodents. It’s the Tyrannosaurus rex fossils they salivate and squabble over. And would the Hollywood glitterati cart around those little teacup pups if they weren’t so dang tiny and cute? Not likely. Earth’s creatures come in all sizes, yet they (and we) all sprang from the same single-celled organisms that first populated the planet. So how on Earth did life go from bacteria to the blue whale? "It happened primarily in two great leaps, and each time, the maximum size of life jumped up by a factor of about a million," said Jonathan Payne, assistant professor of geological and environmental science at Stanford.
Payne, along with a dozen other paleontologists and ecologists at 10 different research institutions, pooled their existing databases, combed the scientific literature and consulted with taxonomic experts in a quest to determine the maximum size of life over all of geological time. That might sound like a rather large undertaking, but, fortunately, the quest was made easier because even the professionals have a fascination with the size of the fossilized. "The nice thing about maximum size is that people tend to remark on very large fossils, so they are much easier to track down in the geologic literature than anything else," Payne said. In addition to quantifying the enormity of the two leaps in maximum size, the researchers also pinned down when those leaps took place. Both leaps coincided with periods when there was a major increase in the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.
Interesting3: Retailers have blamed the global financial crisis for a litany of ills over the past year: slumping sales, mass layoffs and bankruptcy filings. Now, they are looking to the economy to explain recent spikes in shoplifting from their stores. Though individual retailers do not publicly report crime data, a survey of 52 national chain stores released this month by the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), a trade group, showed that 84 percent reported an increase in shoplifting since the recession began. About 80 percent said organized retail crime had also jumped, and more than half said robberies and burglaries have risen, as well. "Bad guys are smart. People do not give them credit," said Brad Brekke, vice president of assets protection at Target. "They understand odds are either for or against them, and if they see the odds swing in their favor, they will take advantage of it." In the Washington area, Alexandria police said there have been more shoplifting reports nearly every month this year compared with last year, though they expect December to slacken.
In Tysons Corner, Lt. Josh Laitinen said his officers arrested 40 people over the past three weeks on shoplifting charges. And in Montgomery County, Detective David Hill, who oversees the county’s retail crime division, said many stores have told him that crime is up. "I’m sure it’s a major concern for all of them," Hill said. "No one wants to just give anything away." Retail crime typically increases during the holiday season as customers flood stores staffed with temporary — and often untested — employees. Doorbuster holiday discounts and aggressive merchandising, such as stocking more products near entryways, also provide ne’er-do-wells with more opportunities. But retailers and law enforcement officials say the economic downturn is resulting in more frequent and more aggressive crimes. Fighting these trends is an expensive proposition for retailers. According to the Center for Retail Research, a British organization that did a global survey, U.S. stores spent about $12 billion last year to combat retail crime. Many employ security officers to monitor surveillance cameras throughout the store.
Interesting4: Caribou, aka reindeer in North America, could soon become endangered by threats such as oil exploration and climate change, according to a new book. The animals are revered by many cultures and are also central to the health and vitality of the Far North, the authors of "Caribou and the North: A Shared Future" (Dundurn Press Toronto) state. Wild reindeer are widespread in Alaska, Canada, Siberia and Greenland. The book highlights the caribou in terms of its natural history; ecological importance in boreal, mountain, and Arctic ecosystems; and steps that conservationists, wildlife managers, and governments can take in protecting the future of this unique deer species. "The caribou is central to the normal function of northern ecosystems," said Justina Ray, executive director of Wildlife Conservation Society-Canada and a co-author of the book.
"With their huge range requirements and need for intact landscapes, these animals are serving as the litmus test for whether we will succeed in taking care of their needs in an area that is under intensifying pressure." Caribou are the only deer species where males and females both possess antlers. And they are superbly adapted to a cold weather existence (they even have hair on the bottoms of their feet), Ray said. They are the most abundant large land-dwelling animal of the Far North and have learned to exploit a number of ecosystems: tundra, boreal forests, mountains and polar deserts. Some populations, such as the famous Porcupine Herd of the Yukon and eastern Alaska embark on epic migrations, whereas the Narrow Lake population of British Columbia’s boreal forest remains in the same habitat year-round. Caribou are vulnerable to a number of threats, including deforestation, natural resource extraction and accompanying road networks, and climate change. In North America, caribou have lost about one-third of their southern range.
Interesting5: Honeybees are important to plants for reasons that go beyond pollination, according to a new study published in the December 23rd issue of Current Biology. The insects’ buzz also defends plants against the caterpillars that would otherwise munch on them undisturbed. The researchers, led by Jürgen Tautz of Biozentrum Universität Würzburg, Germany, earlier found that many caterpillars possess fine sensory hairs on the front portions of their bodies that enable them to detect air vibrations, such as the sound of an approaching predatory wasp or honeybee. "These sensory hairs are not fine-tuned," Tautz said. "Therefore, caterpillars cannot distinguish between hunting wasps and harmless bees." If an "unidentified flying object" approaches, generating air vibrations in the proper range, caterpillars stop moving or drop from the plant.
If caterpillars are constantly stressed by buzzing bees, as they likely are in fruiting trees heavily laden with blossoms, they will feed a lot less, he said. In the study, the researchers found that bell pepper plants without fruit suffered 60 to almost 70 percent less damage to their leaves when confined in a tent with bees and caterpillars in comparison to those in a tent with caterpillars alone. The amount of leaf damage was less on fruit-bearing plants as the beet armyworm caterpillars moved into the maturing peppers, they report. "Our findings indicate for the first time that visiting honeybees provide plants with a totally unexpected advantage," the researchers said. "They not only transport pollen from flower to flower, but in addition also reduce plant destruction by herbivores."
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