Well, here’s one for your did-you-know file.
I’ve been told a few times that most of Hawaii’s rain falls at night. I had been somewhat skeptical when I heard that, though I had noticed this to be true on our very first visit to Kauai. During our first stay in the Princeville area, rain poured almost every night, but when morning came, we enjoyed beautiful clear skies. We had one brief afternoon shower which produced the rainbow in the following photo.
Out of curiosity, I decided to do a bit of research. As I was looking for credible sources, I came across this exceptionally descriptive detail of Hawaii’s climate from the Western Regional Climate Center which delivers climate services to national weather agencies like NOAA. To support the theory that most of Hawaii’s rain falls at night, I found this excellent excerpt:
“In the lowlands at all times of the year, rainfall is most likely to occur during the nighttime or in the morning hours and least likely to occur during mid-afternoon. Correspondingly, not only is rainfall more frequent at night, but also the total nighttime fall averages more than the total daytime fall when the two 12-hour periods are compared.”
So, it’s true that most rain does indeed fall at night in Hawaii. Isn’t that interesting?
See this link for more of what to expect from weather in Hawaii. What has been your experience with rain when you’ve visited Hawaii?
Sheila Beal
3 comments
And I thought we were just lucky! 7 nights in September in Ka’anapali. Rained once- at night. When we awoke, everything was wet but the sun was already out. In Hana for 3 nights, one rainstorm predawn extending through much of the morning, then sunny. I love Maui!
Why does it rain more at night and early morning in Hawaii windward lowlands?
Thanks
We don’t know why. Our only guess is that the colder temps at night generate more moisture. That’s purely a guess. Check the page https://wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/HAWAII.htm that we cite in the article.