WunderBlog Archive » Weather Extremes
Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.All-time Heat Record tied at Hilo, Hawaii on Thanksgiving?
All-time Heat Record tied at Hilo, Hawaii on Thanksgiving?
According to the NWS-Honolulu office the temperature spiked to 94°F (34.4°C) on the morning of November 28th tying Hilo’s all-time maximum temperature for any month. However, it is an anomalous figure and hard to believe (as is the ‘official’ Hawaiian state record high of 100°F (37.8°C) set at Pahala in April 1931. Here are the details.
According to the METARS data at Hilo International Airport a temperature of 94°F was achieved at the site sometime between 10 a.m.-11:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day last week (November 28th) tying the previous all-time heat record for the site last set on May 20, 1966. The morning low was 68°. Records at the airport date back to 1946 although weather records have been maintained at other locations in the city since 1905. The previous warmest November day at Hilo was 92° on November 7, 1996 and a 93° reading was achieved on December 14, 1980, so we know that the 94° figure last week is within the realm of possibility despite the fact that November is not normally one of the city’s warmest months. The normal temperature range for Hilo on November 28 is 66°-80°.
Monthly climate summary for Hilo this past November. The 94° temperature is noted as a new monthly record for the site (and would also tie the all-time record for any month). NWS-Honolulu.
On Thursday morning the wind had been blowing lightly from the SW until about 11 a.m. when it switched to the SE, in other words from offshore to onshore. However, down sloping extreme heat events are not common in Hawaii if, in fact, they ever occur to the extent as reported at Hilo.
A map of the Hilo area showing the location of the airport where the 94° reading was apparently measured. Note that the airport is very near the coastline.
Also of note is that the previous day (Wednesday November 27th) a daily record high of 88° was measured (former record 86° in 1977) and a record event report was issued by NWS-Honolulu. Strangely, however, no record event report was issued for the more incredible 94° ‘record’ set the following day. I have requested verification from the office concerning this rather significant event and will let you know their response when I hear back. If verified, it would be the only instance of an all-time record high being set for a significant weather station during the month of November anywhere in the U.S.
Trouble with Hawaiian Temperature Records
This would not be the first anomalous heat record set in Hawaii. In fact, the ‘official’ state maximum temperature record of 100° reportedly set at Pahala, Big Island, on April 27, 1931 is most certainly bogus. As one can see in the COOP form below the maximum temperature for Pahala on that day was missing and replaced with the figures 9999, meaning missing data not 100°! Amazingly, the record still seems to be widely cited (including in the NCDC state extremes data archive).
A digitized copy of the COOP report for Pahala, Big Island, Hawaii for April 1931. The original COOP report is not in the NCDC online archives since the reports for 1929-1945 are missing. Table above retrieved from the Utah State University GIS Climate Center archives.
So if the 100° figure at Pahala is bogus what IS the record high for Hawaii? Climatologist and temperature detective Maximiliano Herrera posits that the warmest reliably measured temperature ever measured in the state is 97° at Kahalui, Maui on August 31, 1994. There have been numerous other reports of 98° temperatures most of which can be dismissed. The most possibly reliable one being that reported at Puunene, Maui on August 19, 1951 and again on July 14, 1957.
KUDOS: Thanks to Trent McCotter for bringing the Hilo temperature event to my attention.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
According to the NWS-Honolulu office the temperature spiked to 94°F (34.4°C) on the morning of November 28th tying Hilo’s all-time maximum temperature for any month. However, it is an anomalous figure and hard to believe (as is the ‘official’ Hawaiian state record high of 100°F (37.8°C) set at Pahala in April 1931. Here are the details.
According to the METARS data at Hilo International Airport a temperature of 94°F was achieved at the site sometime between 10 a.m.-11:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day last week (November 28th) tying the previous all-time heat record for the site last set on May 20, 1966. The morning low was 68°. Records at the airport date back to 1946 although weather records have been maintained at other locations in the city since 1905. The previous warmest November day at Hilo was 92° on November 7, 1996 and a 93° reading was achieved on December 14, 1980, so we know that the 94° figure last week is within the realm of possibility despite the fact that November is not normally one of the city’s warmest months. The normal temperature range for Hilo on November 28 is 66°-80°.
Monthly climate summary for Hilo this past November. The 94° temperature is noted as a new monthly record for the site (and would also tie the all-time record for any month). NWS-Honolulu.
On Thursday morning the wind had been blowing lightly from the SW until about 11 a.m. when it switched to the SE, in other words from offshore to onshore. However, down sloping extreme heat events are not common in Hawaii if, in fact, they ever occur to the extent as reported at Hilo.
A map of the Hilo area showing the location of the airport where the 94° reading was apparently measured. Note that the airport is very near the coastline.
Also of note is that the previous day (Wednesday November 27th) a daily record high of 88° was measured (former record 86° in 1977) and a record event report was issued by NWS-Honolulu. Strangely, however, no record event report was issued for the more incredible 94° ‘record’ set the following day. I have requested verification from the office concerning this rather significant event and will let you know their response when I hear back. If verified, it would be the only instance of an all-time record high being set for a significant weather station during the month of November anywhere in the U.S.
Trouble with Hawaiian Temperature Records
This would not be the first anomalous heat record set in Hawaii. In fact, the ‘official’ state maximum temperature record of 100° reportedly set at Pahala, Big Island, on April 27, 1931 is most certainly bogus. As one can see in the COOP form below the maximum temperature for Pahala on that day was missing and replaced with the figures 9999, meaning missing data not 100°! Amazingly, the record still seems to be widely cited (including in the NCDC state extremes data archive).
A digitized copy of the COOP report for Pahala, Big Island, Hawaii for April 1931. The original COOP report is not in the NCDC online archives since the reports for 1929-1945 are missing. Table above retrieved from the Utah State University GIS Climate Center archives.
So if the 100° figure at Pahala is bogus what IS the record high for Hawaii? Climatologist and temperature detective Maximiliano Herrera posits that the warmest reliably measured temperature ever measured in the state is 97° at Kahalui, Maui on August 31, 1994. There have been numerous other reports of 98° temperatures most of which can be dismissed. The most possibly reliable one being that reported at Puunene, Maui on August 19, 1951 and again on July 14, 1957.
KUDOS: Thanks to Trent McCotter for bringing the Hilo temperature event to my attention.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.