Through this blog, I have been blessed to have made many good friends in Hawaii that I keep in touch with via twitter and facebook. I noticed a trend from my Hawaii friends in the last day. Many of them are talking about how it’s freezing in Hawaii.
I had to wonder, what sort of cold snap has hit Hawaii? So I checked the Hawaii News Now weather page. Nighttime low temperatures have dipped into the – gasp – upper 60’s! Isn’t perception a funny thing? Now, I know my friends don’t actually believe it’s freezing, but to them, this little spurt of colder weather in the evenings does feel chilly, indeed.
As I’ve mentioned in the 50 Facts About the 50th State Series, Hawaii offers year-round warm temperatures — even in the winter. Lows don’t normally dip down below the mid-60’s.
On Sunday, I returned from 17 wonderfully warm nights in Hawaii. We’re talking 17 nights of wearing such winter duds like shorts, short-sleeved shirts, and flip flops.
Here’s a photo I took last week at the beautiful Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. How on earth are those orchids and tropical plants surviving the frigid 70-degree temps? 😉
Who else besides me would like to go experience some of of those boo-chilly temperatures in Hawaii this winter?
Before we close this post, I should mention that chilly temperatures are all relative and subjective. To be fair, most folks who live in Hawaii don’t have any form of heat in their homes.
For more on Hawaii’s weather detailed by island, see this page on Hawaii weather.
Sheila Beal
22 comments
ha ha here in Hawaii, we call these “double blanket nights!”
Sorry I missed you on your trip here! I would have taken you to my hole in the wall for shave ice! Next time!
Hahaha…”double blanket nights” That’s funny!
Would love to go to your hole in the wall shave ice place. Next time we’ll plan that for sure.
Stay warm, my friend!
But, but, but, it does feel like it’s freezing! 🙂 Actually, the weather, thus far, has not gotten down as low as some of us would like to see for our winters. It has only now started to dip a little and the tradewinds have only now started to add their wind-chill factor to things.
Some people are annoyed that they have to wear long pants to the evening sporting events. 🙂 But, I’m still not shivering on my walks home after work. I’ll keep you posted but it’s not happening yet! I am aware of the cool but still not shivering. Yes, we do shiver here, honest!
The summer heat lasted way too long and now we’re not getting enough cold. Tsk! I’ll be the first to complain about it, trust me! 🙂 We’re staying true to our “year-’round” reputation! Miss you!
Evelyn – LOL…having “to wear long pats to evening sporting events” I love it!
I think folks in Hawaii must have a heightened sense of changes in temperatures, winds, and weather in general. Hawaii folks seem to notice very subtle changes. It’s a blessing, I’m sure.
I hope you’ll enjoy those walks of brief shivering when they arrive this winter. Sounds like you still need to cool off from the hot summer.
Definitely!
I live on Oahu but I moved here from Denver so I’m pretty familiar with cold weather.
The other day – One of the ladies at work was complaining how it was “Absolutely Freeeee-Zzzzing”. She said that it was Sooooo cold – She went to her car in the morning but it was completely covered with “Frost” (?!?!?!)
I said – “What… Frost?!… Your car was covered with a thin layer of ICE?”
She said – “No… Not ice. (Giggle) Tiny droplets of water. It was HORRIBLE. I couldn’t see out the windows and had to get a squeegee.”
Um… Yeah… I’m glad it wasn’t that cold at my place… 😉
Dave – how on earth did you keep from busting out laughing? 😛
Mainlanders love to tease Hawaii residents who say that 60F is cold. But think about this: if it’s 60 degrees inside your house, you’d almost certainly turn on the heat. Those of us in Hawaii can’t do that, because houses here do not have central heat.
Also, if you see an overnight low of 60, remember that’s at sea level. At higher elevations it can be considerably colder.
So yes, a double blanket night, and wearing socks to bed — that’s about all we can do.
TRB – well the “freezing” temps that my friends were talking about were 68 and 69 degrees — not 60! I think we drop our thermostat several degrees below that at night.
For some perspective, we were elated to return to Raleigh with daytime highs of 65 degrees after our 17 nights in Hawaii.
Any “teasing”, is done in good fun…at least from my side.
Maybe the use of the word chilly might be better than freezing.
Don’t feel too bad. In Raleigh, we get an inch of snow and everything shuts down. Those up north think we’re a bunch of pansies. 😉
It kind of reminds me of when “Triumph the Insult Dog” was a guest on the local news and did the weather report. 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK6jJaHf80M
Dave – thanks for that laugh — so, so, so funny!!
Our problem is that we don’t like to be indoors so much! 🙂
We recently return to Maui, we started our day in Maui watching the sun rise up at the Haleakala Crater. It was definitely worth waking up, except for it being freezing!!! After driving down the volcano, we stopped by Iao Valley.
Best Regards,
Ha. I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii… but now i’m not so sure. I’d prefer not to bring my parka and wool socks :p
Allen – ha! You’d look funny wearing a parka on the beach. 🙂
Would you believe that I have worn a parka in Hawaii? When I took a stargazing tour to Mauna Kea, the tour company provided parkas. At about 14,000 feet above sea-level, the temps were probably in the 30’s, so those parkas came in handy.
Right Blue is right! I know it seems silly, but 58 without a heating system and single-walled (no insulation!) living means if it’s 58 outside, it’s likely 58 inside! Time for the fuzzy kind of slippers! Of course I wouldn’t trade that for your NC winters…
Kris – Ah to each his own. I do enjoy the type of change of seasons that we experience in central NC — even our winter weather, which is quite mild. Here, we even have a few days that we can wear shorts that are scattered throughout our winter months.
No doubt 58 degrees requires soaks and double blankets. 🙂
In Volcano, where the elevation approaches 4,000 feet, we expected chilly temperatures. The cottage that we rented had a gas fireplace and a space heater. We used the fireplace both mornings of our stay.
Again, the good-natured ribbing that I intended in this post was based on upper 60’s and actually 70 degree weather, which may feel “freezing” to some, but most would find it to be very comfortable.
Sheila, your good-natured ribbing about the “freezing” folks in Hawaii would make sense even at 50 degrees! 😉 Enjoy your snow!
Thanks, Kris! I’m giddy that we’re going to get snow — crazy, I know!
Keep in mind that the record low for Volcano is 31 deg, which would mean that from Volcano up to the tippy tops of both Manua Kea and Mauna Loa at 14,000 feet could have potentially been covered in snow if the weather was favorable on that day. That’s a ton of snow covering 1000’s of square miles for a Paradise Island 😛
I think was in 1984 the snow was so heavy on the Big Island that, I was told it was as deep as 28 feet in some places, snow covered practically the whole mountain and there was even some small snow fall in Kamuela. Hawaii has it’s cold climate but it’s nice to escape to the beach for some sun….
it IS freezing in hawaii, check this video from the honolulu news http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5GB25vxEUw