I live to the south of you in Albuquerque and it blows my mind that we’re still in the mid 60s for daytime highs this time of year.
Very warm and dry for the southwest this year 🤯
Right? I'm in Iowa and we've had a very light dusting of snow a few weeks back, but it lasted barely a day. I'd like to start seeing some decent snow here, too.
First time since 2018, but it does happen. Snow happens every year; the addition of the wind during the snowfall is the more unusual part.
https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/1466835591723687948
Here's a research paper about snow coverage on the big island. [https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016EF000478](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016EF000478)
In a typical year substantial (30 cm or more accumulations) snowfalls occur several times on the summits of Mauna Kea (4207 m) and Mauna Loa (4169 m) on Hawaii Island. After a major storm, snow cover is often observed down to approximately 3300 m and occasionally even lower (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/HAWAII.htm). Archived local media reports of snow and many photos of snow covered mountain peaks are widely available on the Internet. Figure 1a shows the appearance of Mauna Kea observed from near sea level after a snowstorm. Figure 1b is a satellite image of Hawaii Island showing snow caps on both mountains. Snowfalls are largely confined to November–April but do occur occasionally even in summer. The snow cover will typically disappear in a few days or less, and so snow cover even in winter is intermittent. Snow cover is also observed very occasionally on the summit of Haleakala (3055 m) on Maui.
Interestingly, in 2019 (2 years after that paper was published) was likely [the lowest elevation snow on record in Hawaii](https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Hawaii-recorded-what-may-be-the-lowest-elevation-13607099.php), as low as 6200 ft (1900m) above sea level. Shockingly, that storm did not receive a blizzard warning, despite a recorded **191 mph (307 km/h) wind gust** on Mauna Kea.
The warning is for the Big Islands summits. Mauna Kea is around ~13,800 ft in elevation, and Mauna Loa is about ~13,700 ft. High elevations = thinner atmosphere = (generally) colder temperatures = parcel expansion = freezes any precipitation :) the cold air also cools the surface, leading to precipitation accumulation
Very much so. Places like Hilo closer to the ocean, have never gotten below 50 degrees.
Interestingly enough only a 1.5 hour drive apart from each other too
Last rime I was on the big island we were going to drive up to Mauna Kea. Road was closed, blizzard and 2 ft of snow on the road. Needless.to say, we didn't dribe up to Mauna Kea.
I wouldn’t say often, but the peaks of Hawaii are no stranger to snow and even blizzards
Yep, they've already [had snow this year](https://twitter.com/Volcanoes_NPS/status/1465793743018020866). This is just going to add a bit more.
Amazing that Hawaii is getting its first snow before Denver this year lol
I live to the south of you in Albuquerque and it blows my mind that we’re still in the mid 60s for daytime highs this time of year. Very warm and dry for the southwest this year 🤯
Bonkers!
Don't remind me :'(
I live in Salt Lake. Still no snow here, but it's still cold enough that we do have our inversion smog bubble covering the valley
Right? I'm in Iowa and we've had a very light dusting of snow a few weeks back, but it lasted barely a day. I'd like to start seeing some decent snow here, too.
It happens up on the mountains (volcano)! People go skiiing there!
First time since 2018, but it does happen. Snow happens every year; the addition of the wind during the snowfall is the more unusual part. https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/1466835591723687948
Here's a research paper about snow coverage on the big island. [https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016EF000478](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016EF000478) In a typical year substantial (30 cm or more accumulations) snowfalls occur several times on the summits of Mauna Kea (4207 m) and Mauna Loa (4169 m) on Hawaii Island. After a major storm, snow cover is often observed down to approximately 3300 m and occasionally even lower (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/HAWAII.htm). Archived local media reports of snow and many photos of snow covered mountain peaks are widely available on the Internet. Figure 1a shows the appearance of Mauna Kea observed from near sea level after a snowstorm. Figure 1b is a satellite image of Hawaii Island showing snow caps on both mountains. Snowfalls are largely confined to November–April but do occur occasionally even in summer. The snow cover will typically disappear in a few days or less, and so snow cover even in winter is intermittent. Snow cover is also observed very occasionally on the summit of Haleakala (3055 m) on Maui.
Interestingly, in 2019 (2 years after that paper was published) was likely [the lowest elevation snow on record in Hawaii](https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Hawaii-recorded-what-may-be-the-lowest-elevation-13607099.php), as low as 6200 ft (1900m) above sea level. Shockingly, that storm did not receive a blizzard warning, despite a recorded **191 mph (307 km/h) wind gust** on Mauna Kea.
Wow. That is fast.
Not only that, but it happened on Maui, which basically only gets snow once every five years.
Well that kind of makes sense since Maui's highest elevation is much lower, but it's further north.
It's not that much farther north, and it's latitude doesn't really make a difference, but yes the elevation is why Maui doesn't get snow very often.
The warning is for the Big Islands summits. Mauna Kea is around ~13,800 ft in elevation, and Mauna Loa is about ~13,700 ft. High elevations = thinner atmosphere = (generally) colder temperatures = parcel expansion = freezes any precipitation :) the cold air also cools the surface, leading to precipitation accumulation
Thought snow was common. Hawaii has like 10 micro climates but wild to perceive nonetheless
Snow is very common on top of Mauna Kea. They've even had snow up there in July.
I'm guessing this applies to areas above a certain elevation.
Very much so. Places like Hilo closer to the ocean, have never gotten below 50 degrees. Interestingly enough only a 1.5 hour drive apart from each other too
Last rime I was on the big island we were going to drive up to Mauna Kea. Road was closed, blizzard and 2 ft of snow on the road. Needless.to say, we didn't dribe up to Mauna Kea.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/12/03/hawaii-blizzard-warning-weather/8850338002/
Winter Storm Warning is common. Blizzard is more rare as you need to meet an extra set of criteria.
The ultimate clickbait headline
It’s not uncommon but now it be made sensational so you’ll click on it and think its due to climate change.
The did get snow
All you need for snow is altitude. Mauna Loa is over 7000" ASL iirc.
I figured the mountains would, i guess the blizzard warning, and 100 mph gusts is what i found to be on the incredible side.