Cold Hawaii nights to stick around for a while
Advertiser Staff
Low overnight, late-winter temperatures in Hawaii are hardly comparable to those in International Falls, Minn., where lowest temperatures in the country are a routine matter.
But the next three nights in Hawaii could be downright cold — at least by Island standards — according to the National Weather Service forecast.
A low of 59 to 66 degrees is projected for tonight and again tomorrow night, while things are expected to be a bit warmer Sunday night, with low temperatures expected between 61 and 69 degrees.
"That's a bit below normal, but not extreme," said Chris Brenchley, a forecaster with the NWS Honolulu Forecast Office.
If the mercury does drop down to 59 degrees tonight, it would still be a degree short of the record cold mark at Honolulu International Airport for Feb. 20. On that date in 1990, the low recorded was 58 degrees.
But that's well above the record low for any single February night, 53 degrees, a mark set and tied three times between 1976 and 1983. That's as cold as it has even gotten at the airport anytime of the year, National Weather Service records show.
Overnight lows around the state last night include 68 degrees at Honolulu International Airport; 65 in Lihue; 64 at Kalaeloa; 61 at Wheeler Army Airfield; 65 on Maui; 66 on Molokai; 62 on Lanai; 64 in Hilo; and a balmy 69 in Kona.
At Bradshaw Army Airfield, at an elevation of 6,500 feet in the Pohakuloa area of the Big Island, the overnight low was a brisk 41 degrees.
And at or near the summit of Mauna Kea, six of the 10 telescopes reported temperatures between 25.1 and 29.6 degrees at 9 a.m. today.
The natural air conditioning is being brought to Hawaii courtesy of the strong northeasterly winds, Brenchley said.
"In addition, the air is a little drier right now and that allows things to cool a little more," he said.
As the sun goes down, solar radiation from island land masses dissipates rapidly and the dry air speeds the cooling process, Brenchley said.
Low temperatures on Oahu are expected to warm up some, to 64 degrees of more, by the middle of next week.
