Parts of the Island of Hawaiʻi are under a winter storm warning, with the possibility of as much as 8 inches of snow accumulating on the island’s mountains.
The National Weather Service issued an urgent winter weather message for high mountain volcano summits, including Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, Friday afternoon through Saturday.
The volcanic peaks have already gotten some snow this winter, with more than a foot of snow in mid-February and a dusting earlier this week.
The National Weather Service warned of snow on “Big Island Summits and upper slopes” — The Big Island is another name for the island of Hawaiʻi, the namesake of the state.
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Hawaii weather forecast
Mauna Kea was forecast to get down to 23 degrees overnight, according to the Mauna Kea Weather Center. At the beach, the island’s temperatures were 76 degrees, with overnight lows of 70 degrees.
“Any travel plans to the summits should be postponed until the threat diminishes,” the Weather Service said.
The storm will bring heavy rain to the island as a whole but a relatively low freezing altitude could also cause “snow accumulations of up to 8 inches and ice accumulations of around two-tenths of an inch,” the warning said.
Snow on Hawaii mountains explained
Snow isn’t unheard of on Hawaii’s high mountain peaks, as they are both nearly 14,000 feet high. Mauna Kea has a sub-Arctic climate.
The only other area of Hawaii that gets snow with any regularity is the Haleakalā volcano on Maui, which at about 10,000 feet gets snow once every five years or so, the weather service said.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Hawaii was 12 degrees on Mauna Kea on May 17, 1979, the weather service said.
