BEIJING VERSUS HONOLULU ON AIR POLLUTION

The headline article and photo on the front page of the Honolulu Star Advertiser today was titled:

VOG CLOGS AIRWAYS

I happened to be golfing at the Ala Wai Golf Course, and was not comfortable breathing that air:

Well, how bad is our air compared to Beijing?  According to AIRNow.gov:

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values	Levels of Health Concern	Colors
When the AQI is in this range:	..air quality conditions are:	...as symbolized by this color:
0-50	Good	Green
51-100	Moderate	Yellow
101-150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Orange
151 to 200	Unhealthy	Red
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy	Purple
301 to 500	Hazardous	Maroon

After a quick search, I couldn't find what Honolulu's Air Quality Index was yesterday.  Today, the trades are back and our AQI is 13.  Today, Beijing is at:

Beijing AQI: Beijing Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI)

153

Unhealthy Updated on Saturday 4:00

Nanjing was worse:

Nanjing Air Pollution.

168

Unhealthy

Updated on Saturday 4:00

On my final day in Beijing, My Ultimate Global Adventure Day # 29 a month ago:

Beijing AQI: Beijing Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI)

219

Very Unhealthy Updated on Monday 10:00

I began coughing that day, and haven't quite totally gotten over it.

News China in April reported on a Weibo poll of the people:  Do you think China needs its own Clean Air Law?  99% said yes.  The Washington Post had a comparison in February:

I fear, though, that Hawaii's air pollution is a lot worse than publicized.  I quote from my blog posting earlier this year:

It was exactly 30 years yesterday that I was golfing on the Volcano Golf and Country Club on the Big Island of Hawaii when on the tenth hole we felt the ground shudder.  Soon thereafter, we saw fountains of lava a couple of hundred yards high only a few hundred yards from where we stood.  This was the beginning of the current Kilauea eruption, which has now continuously gone on for three decades.

According to that Star Advertiser article mentioned above, the current sulfur dioxide emission rate is twice the amount of the most polluting coal-fired power plant on the mainland.  This visible haze, is comprised of "gas and aerosols of tiny particulates and acidic droplets."  I particularly worry about those living on the Big Island (click here for a blog site), where this volcano is located.  The American Lung Association last month gave a failing grade to the island.  However, this report indicated there were ZERO unhealthy days of air pollution in Honolulu last year.  I can't believe this, for what happened yesterday occurred at least 30 times in 2012, and doctors generally report that they see a lot more patients with respiratory problems during those days.

However, if Honolulu was totally safe last year from this VOG, can you imagine how terrible Beijing must be?

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THE UNITED STATES HAS THE MOST EXTREME WEATHER: Part 2

The USA is the fourth largest country, but we're nowhere near the equator nor poles.  Why, then, do we hold so many world weather records?  That photo above, incidentally, is a Montana thunderstorm from National Geographic.  Atomic Bomb?

No, just another epic American storm.

We have had the most snowfall in a year (Mount Rainier, 102 feet), the largest snowflake (Fort Keogh, Montana, 15 inches in diameter...wow, but that was in 1887, so you wonder, but Guinness accepts this) and largest diameter hail (Vivian, South Dakota, 8 inches--however, it certainly looks like a ball of smaller hailstones to me).  Holt, Missouri  rained 12 inches in 42 minutes.  However, Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean in 1952 rained 73.6 inches in one day!  That's more than the annual Hawaii average.

There were 358 confirmed tornadoes in a 72 hour period in 2011 in six states.  That Moore, Oklahoma tornado of 1999 reached 318 MPH, and absent any cyclone, Mount Washington, New Hampshire measured a one minute average speed of 253 MPH.

We have recorded the highest temperature (Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, California in 1913, 134 F), the fastest temperature drop in 15 minutes (Rapid City, South Dakota , 49 F), and the fastest temperature rise (Spearfish, South Dakota in 1943, 49 F).  At one time, 136 F in Libya, measured in 1922, was the highest, but the World Meteorological Organization discredited this high last year.

Then, there are phenomena where we thankfully don't hold the world record:

  1.  The lowest temperature in the U.S. occurred on 23January1971 in Alaska:  minus 79.8 F.  Vostok Station in Antarctica recorded minus 128.6 in 1983.

  2.  Sure we had Hurricane Katrina with 1833 deaths, but the tropical cyclone that struck Bhola (Bangladesh--photo to the left) in 1970 killed 300,000 to 500,000 people.  It was only a Category 3.  Super Typhoon Nina in 1975 over the West Pacific had 100,000 casualties, but the Haiphong typhoon of 1881 is said to have killed 300,000 in Vietnam.  Our worst natural disaster fatalities were the 1900 hurricane of Galveston with 8,000 deaths and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with 4500 killed. 9/11, terrorism-made, would rank #4 at 3,000 deaths.  Thus, the U.S. has generally avoided mega-catastropheis.

  3.  A 1770 famine in India resulted in 10 million deaths, a 1931 flood in China might have killed 4 million and the 1556 earthquake in China experienced almost a million deaths.  That recent 2010 earthquake in Haiti is #8 with 316,000 killed, while the 2004 Indonesia earthquake and tsunami rated #9 with up to 310,000 deaths.

  4.   Black Death (bubonic plague) during the mid 1300'a in Europe had 25 million deaths, World War 2 might have killed 70 million, and the 1918 flu pandemic could have been responsible for 100 million deaths.   However, we're getting far away from extreme weather.

Interested in weather and climate?  Click here for the top ten blogs dedicated to these topics.  Got to at least show something from Hawaii suggesting that our future weather could get a lot worse:

As global climate change takes hold, look for hotter temperatures, more monstrous hurricanes and greater floods.  Have a good day, anyway.

I might add that while the Dow did not do much today (down 13 to 15,295), the Japan Nikkei lost almost a thousand points:

However, today is already tomorrow in Japan, and for 24May13, the Nikkei bounced back more than 353 (14,837) points after the first hour at this posting.  But the day is long, and the metastability is worrisome;

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THE UNITED STATES HAS THE MOST EXTREME WEATHER: Part 1

The United States usually gets 80-90% of the world tornadoes (Spanish for thunderstorms) with 1000 tornadoes a year.  #2 is Canada, with 100.  Here is a world map where twisters occur

Antarctica is the only continent never to have experienced twisters.  A bit surprising, then, that a cold country like Canada gets so many, for these storms never occur during the winter.  While most of these funnel clouds only impact the ground for five miles, a 1925 version had a path of 219 miles.  The 2004 tornado of Hallam, Nebraska was 2.5 miles wide at the ground.  Tornado alley's

season begins in the Spring and extends into the Fall, somewhat similar to the East Pacific hurricane period.

A 1984 tornado in Bangladesh killed 1300, with #2 being a 1969 Pakistan tornado with 923 deaths.  You would think with more people and no real defense, there would be more deaths in the U.S. from recent twisters.  However #3 on this list is Tri-State in 1925 with 695 killed and way down the list is an 1840 tornado with 317 deaths.  Finally at #26 is that 2011 monster of Joplin, Missouri, killing 162.

There was once a Fujita Scale from F0 (40-72 MPH) to F6 (319-379 MPH).  The Enhanced Fujita Scale was adopted in 2007, beginning with EF0 (65-85 MPH) to EF5 (greater than 200 MPH).  EF4's and 5's are very rare, at only 1%:

However, they do the most damage, 67%:

Who is Fujita?  Tetsuya Theodore "Ted" Fujita was born in Japan in 1920 and could have been killed if the Atomic Bomb that exploded over Nagasaki was dropped over Kokuro (it was cloudy so the bomber took the second option), where he lived.  After gaining a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1953 he joined the meteorology department at the University of Chicago, and did his work on tornadoes essentially there until his death in 1998.  The movie Twister of tornado chasers used his device.

So we come to the now EF-5 tornado that struck a suburb of Oklahoma City, Moore, and how it rates with other historic twisters.  The path is not that wide.  The vital statistics:

  -  max winds of 210 MPH
  -  24 dead
  -  damage:  more than $2 billion
  -  homes affected:  12,000
  -  length of path:  17 miles
  -  width at peak:  1.3 miles
  -  life on ground:  50 minutes

No doubt a catastrophic storm, but not close being in the top 50 of tornado events.

The United States also holds the record for a wide range of weather conditions such as snowfall, rainfall rate and hottest temperature.  This posting continues tomorrow.

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TORNADOES IN HONOLULU

Honolulu gets tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, but only around a tornado a year, no larger than an Enhanced Fujita - 1.  No one has died.  Moore, Oklahoma in 1999 was devastated by an EF-5 (the highest rated, with winds up to 318 miles per hour).  The monster yesterday (left) was probably "only" an EF-4.  The EF  replaced the Fujita scale in 2007, and the United States has suffered through eight EF-5s since then, with the 2011 Joplin twister killing 158.  Does the USA get more of these storms than any country?   Do we have the most severe weather conditions?  You'll be surprised with these answers, which I'll provide tomorrow.  For today, let me report on the weather in Honolulu yesterday.

After My Ultimate Global Adventure, I sometimes wonder why I bother, for life here in Honolulu is about as good as it gets.  After posting my blog in my campus office, I thought I'd bring a bento plate to sit under under a coconut tree on Magic Island to watch the surfers testing double digit face waves:

There must have been fifty of them risking their lives in major wipeouts.  They were mostly half a mile away so my shots were microscopic.  Best photo was of one of them giving up.  I fed the pigeons my meal of shoyu chicken and umani, with a bottle of beer:

There must have been at least half a dozen wedding couples:

I wondered why these paddlers were heading for those waves:

Then, sunset today was above average:

Sure looked like Star Trek's Enterprise landing over downtown Honolulu.  So, anyway, tomorrow, a comprehensive analysis of the United States with respect to extreme weather conditions.

The Dow Jones Industrials reached yet another all-time high today, peaking intra-day at 15,435, and ending at 15,388.  The Nikkei tomorrow is now at 15,627, amazing, as it was loitering just above 8,000 for months, awaiting the election of Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister  in December of 2012.  Part of the jump has to do with the yen losing about 25% of its value against the U.S. dollar, and even more against the Chinese renminbi and South Korea won, giving Japanese companies a trading edge.  Keep in mind, though, that while the Dow is at the highest ever, the Nikkei closed at 38,916 on 29December 1989:

Thus, the Nikkei is only at 40% of its record high.  The situation is even worse, actually, because, depending on the parameter used, the value of 38,916 relative to today should be anywhere from 63,400 to 107,000.  Thus, the real worth of the Nikkei today could be lower than 15% of the once high.

Also, don't get too exuberant, for the Dow has been higher in the past, inflation adjusted.  This is the best I could find, but it does confirm this statement:

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THE MOST WATCHED BILLBOARDS MUSIC AWARDS IN 12 YEARS

There was a time when I knew all the top ten songs.  Over the past few decades, there were weeks when I did not recognize even one artist.  So, a couple of years ago I decided to review TV award programs like the 2013 Billboards American Music Awards last night, which was the fortieth.  This one turned out to be the most watched in 12 years, and now I at least somewhat recognize some of the performers.  For example, the Top Ten on Billboard this week:

#1    Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (Can't Hold Us)--never heard of them

#2    Pink (Just Give Me a Reason)--no, not because her hair is pink, but on the other hand, she has worn pink (left), as has Nicki Minaj (on right, for breast cancer awareness, but she wears every color in the rainbow and more)

#3    Justin Timberlake (Mirrors)--got his start on the Mickey Mouse Club (here with Ryan Gosling on  his right)

#4    Bruno Mars (When I Was Your Man)--hey, he's from Hawaii

#5    Rihanna (Stay)--she was beaten up by her boyfriend Chris Brown (it was Bobby Brown who steered Whitney Houston towards drugs, but maybe not)

#6    Selena Gomez (Come & Get It)--former girlfriend of Justin Bieber (he, on the right, had the most watched You Tube video until Gangnam Style arrived), no they got back together...nope, they broke up again, speaking of Selena and Justin

#7    Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Thrift Shop)--what, again...who are they, anyway?  Well, Macklemore was formerly Professor Macklemore, but was born Ben Haggerty.  Ryan Lewis was born Ryan Lewis.  They're out of Seattle.  This is the first duo ever to take its original two singles to #1.

#8    Radioactive (Imagine Dragons)...whoops, make that Imagine Dragons (Radioactive)--clearly, never heard of them

#9    Icona Pop (I Love It)--Googled to learned they are two Swedish disc jockeys

#10  Florida Georgia Line (Cruise)--Googled to find it is a country twosome

Taylor Swift won eight awards.  Nicki Minaj, who I thought was the personality of American Idol, won the first statue shown on TV, Best Rap Artist, and three in all:

Psy won an award, as he is now the most streamed performer, and Justin Bieber got three, but was booed:

Madonna prevailed on two.  Before and today photos:

Prince effectively ended the show with a medley of his hits.  Again, before and today:

Unlike most of the other performers, Prince actually sang his songs.  A downer was that there was no drama, as the winners and losers already knew the results.  In case you were wondering, here are  Macklemore (left) and Ryan Lewis:

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