Snow In Hawaii Is A Thing, And It’s Happening Right Now
Snow in Hawaii? Yes, you read that right.
While most people think of the islands as a warm, tropical paradise, it’s not uncommon to see snow on the Big Island’s volcanic peaks.
And this week is one of those times.
Hawaiian Winter Wonderland
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Big Island peaks on Monday, predicting 5 to 10 inches of snow, strong winds and significant rime frost on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
(MORE: What is frozen frost?)
This warning is in effect until Tuesday morning local time.
Although authorities warn that travel is dangerous, if not impossible, across the peaks, a set of webcams atop Mauna Kea give us a glimpse of the winter wonderland.
Mauna Kea Weather Center
So what is the cause of this?
The culprit behind this snowy paradise is what’s called a Kona storm, or Kona bass.
(MORE: What is a Kona Low?)
This same system brings heavy rain to the islands’ lower elevations while projecting its moisture toward the peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the Big Island’s pair of 13,000-foot-plus volcanoes.
Since air temperatures generally decrease with higher elevations, storms can produce snow instead of rain on these peaks.
Storm Kona is shown by the “L” representing its low pressure area in this satellite image from Monday. These storms bring moist southerly winds to the Hawaiian Islands during the cooler months, absorbing lower elevations and sometimes bringing snow to the peaks of the Big Island.
Snow usually occurs a few times a year
Although it snows most often in the cooler months between October and April at these higher elevations, it can happen at any time of year. A layer of snow was even observed on Mauna Kea in July 2015.
We’ve even seen blizzard warnings issued for peaks in the past.
If you’re tracking the situation, that means all 50 states can see accumulating snow.
Since the peaks of Hawaii see snow several times a year, this means that Florida is probably the most unusual state where snow accumulates.
Caitlin Kaiser graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences before beginning her career as a digital meteorologist at Weather.com.
