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| Snow and clouds cover Mauna Kea |
Like
most of the world, the weather on the Big Island of Hawaii has been strange this year. Two weeks ago the island was blanketed in vog from our
constantly erupting volcano. When the winds finally changed, it brought a
thick blanket of clouds, rain and very cold temperatures
The
heavy vog (volcanic smog) hung over us for over a week as a southern wind blew
it north covering the west side of the island. When the vog gets thick, some
people have a reaction in their lungs. The lung
disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand from volcanoes, Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,
is actually the longest word in the dictionary. In our case, the vog lowers our energy and we
feel like we are down with the flu. Our only recourse is to stay inside
and run the AC to get some of the sulfur dioxide out of our air.
When
the winds changed we got rain with record cold temperatures for March.
Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are covered in snow with high winds and freezing fog.
The huge Thirty Meter Telescope, under construction on Mauna Kea, was delayed from the blizzard.
While
we bundle up in temperatures in the low 60’s (F), the ocean surrounding the
Hawaiian Islands is not cooling down. The water is warmer than normal by
up to 3.6 degrees. Last week NOAA Climate Prediction Center predicted a 60%
chance of El Nino conditions because of the unusual warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The effects
of the El Nino last year produced 20 named storms in the Eastern Pacific, the
most since 1992.
An
El Nino means our cold weather will likely be followed by a dry summer
and another active hurricane season.
