While enjoying the 85 degree (Fahrenheit) water in our condo complex pool last week, we met a visitor from northern Canada. He was marveling at how warm it was for October and asked, “When does Winter start in Hawaii?” That got us to thinking, since it never really gets cold, when is it Winter in Hawaii?
September is the “hottest” month in Kona with an average high of 88 degrees during the day and the coldest month is February when it gets down to a chilly 82 degrees on average during the day. That’s a difference of only 6 degrees between the hot Summer days and the cold Winter days. Phoenix, Arizona, where our visitor has a second home to escape Canada’s cold winters, has a difference of 40 degrees between the hottest month of July with an average of 106 degrees during the day and the coldest month of December with an average of 66 degrees during the day. Winter in Phoenix is on average 32 degrees colder during the day than the daytime temperatures we experience during our Hawaii Winter.
So when is Winter in Hawaii?
It turns out that the big changes in temperature happen at night in Hawaii. During the Summer, the temperature falls to 74 degrees at night in Kona and in the Winter it falls even lower to 67 degrees at night. That is cold enough for us to have to turn off the ceiling fan. The 15 degree drop in temperature between night and day is over twice as much as the drop in daytime temperatures from Summer to Winter. This leads us to conclude that night is Winter in Hawaii.
It turns out that the big changes in temperature happen at night in Hawaii. During the Summer, the temperature falls to 74 degrees at night in Kona and in the Winter it falls even lower to 67 degrees at night. That is cold enough for us to have to turn off the ceiling fan. The 15 degree drop in temperature between night and day is over twice as much as the drop in daytime temperatures from Summer to Winter. This leads us to conclude that night is Winter in Hawaii.
Since we have come to this conclusion we now joke that in the morning, when tropical bird songs wake us up, it is Spring. During midday, when the fans are turned on, it is Summer, and the beautiful sunsets and cool evenings are Autumn. Every day in Hawaii we have a full cycle of the year.
Sunset in Kona, Hawaii
3 comments:
Sounds delightful. May it ever be so.
That reminds me: I've been perusing the real estate listings for Hawaii County, and I notice that there is a lot of inventory. Many second homes and too much subdivided land, perhaps.
My own personal view is that when the twin catastrophes of global meltdown and fuel shortages combine, all those second homes will not have much monetary value left in them.
But my real question is, if the islands become quasi-isolated (meaning, far less traffic in both people and goods), how self-sufficient in food and clothing do you feel the big island can be?
I've lived in Japan for some twenty years, and even though I live in an area not directly affected by the tsunami and nuclear accident, the future of this country is opaque, at best. And I do want to go home.
I spend part of my year in Guam, a place that I like in spite of its problems and cultural limitations. But I worry that there is not enough political will to overcome the inevitable problems of a loss of tourist trade and a weakening of the American empire.
Although Hawaii faces the same problems, your posts on the climate variability, combined with the richness of volcanic soil, lead me to believe that there is a solid base for island self-sufficiency.
I'm not predicting the downfall of civilization, but I do expect a worldwide economic contraction rivaling that of the great depression, and many people will have to learn to grow their own food and barter or cooperate with neighbors in order to secure the essential of life.
And at my age, it's not an easy prospect.
Should be "essentials."
"That is cold enough for us to have to turn off the ceiling fan."
LOL!
Thank you for the thoughtful, warm 'aloha' spirit posts. I look forward to them.
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