| Maui
Weather
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One of the things that makes Hawaii such a popular
year-round vacation destination is its incredibly mild climate. If you are
cold in the wintertime, you can come here and get warm. If you are hot in
the summertime you can come here and cool off. Many Maui residences have
no air conditioning and no heater. Windows are almost always left open and
ceiling fans and our cooling trade wind breezes provide all the air
conditioning we need here in paradise.
In order to understand Hawaii weather, you have to
realize the different micro-climates that exist here. The windward side of
the islands receive lots of rain ... the trade winds blow in the moist
ocean air, the mountains lift the air and cause it too cool, and it
condenses and causes clouds and rain. The leeward side of the islands are
in a rain shadow ... they are much drier and hotter than the windward
side. The summit area of the West Maui Mountains is the second wettest
spot on the face of the earth ... receiving 400 inches of rain a year! Yet
in Lahaina, at the base of these mountains on the leeward side, the annual
total is a sparse 12 inches or so! The trade winds typically blow from the
northeast, leaving the southwest sides of the island dry and
warm and producing rain forests on the north facing slopes.
Most of the resorts on Maui are located in the leeward
areas. The closer you are to the windward side, the more rain you will get
at your hotel. You might find yourself doing a little more driving to go
to a beach that is sunnier. This line between the windward and leeward
sides of the islands is what gives rise to the many rainbows that are seen
in Hawaii. And of course, the 400" of rain causes spectacular
waterfalls and deeply carved valleys. (you have to take a helicopter
flight to really see the most spectacular falls)
We
often get phone calls from people who have looked at a 10-day
forecast and are worried it's going to be raining the entire
time they are on vacation. If you are looking at a 10-day
forecast on WEATHER.COM you need to realize that it
doesn't account for the different weather on the dry and wet
sides of the island. Since it rains in the rain forest almost
300 days a year, their long-range forecast tends to skew
toward reporting all that rain. It is not unusual for people
to come here and find out that they don't see a drop of rain
all week, even though the WEATHER.COM extended forecast
looked ominous.
We
recommend that you look at http://hawaiiweathertoday.com
for a forecast that more accurately accounts for the true
weather conditions around here. This Glenn James is based on
Maui, and he'll give you a great local perspective on what the
weather is really going to be like.
The other factor that contributes to
our microclimates is
elevation. The summit of Haleakala is 10,000' and it gets cold up there!
On rare occasions it even snows. The town of Kula is much cooler in the
daytime than at sea level. If you are going to be exploring these
upcountry parts of the islands, bring some clothing that you can layer.
You also might want to check out the
weather in Honolulu. The Star
Bulletin website offers a lot of information on weather and sea conditions,
and even a link for updates on volcanic activity.
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