Hurricanes Harassing Hawaii, California, East Coast Remarkably Storm-Free

Hurricane Lowell in the Pacific Ocean on Monday. Hawaii
is hidden beneath the clouds. 

For the second time within a month, a hurricane is threatening Hawaii. 

Hurricane Lowell has taken its northward turn, but it has been heading a little east of north. That means the Hawaiian Island will have more trouble than originally thought.  

The hurricanes expected path has shifted about 75 miles east since Sunday morning. Hurricane Lowell is expected to pass within 75 miles of Kauai as a category 2 storm tonight and tomorrow. 

It still looks like most of the Hawaiian Islands will be spared hurricane force winds, though a hurricane warning is in effect for the islands of Kauai and Nihau. Winds could gust to 85 mph later today and tonight, and 10 to 15 inches should drown the western islands. 

But torrential rains and tropical storm force winds could hit the entire island chain while the storm passes by. 

A tropical storm warning is in effect for Oahu, which includes the city of Honolulu. Kauai and Niihau could receive six to 10 inches of rain with local amounts of 14 inches. Normal September precipitation the islands is between two to four inches. So flooding is inevitable.   

The rest of the island chain can expect four to eight inches of rain. Which is more than enough to cause flooding and landslides. Especially after other recent storms on the island. 

The islands are also going to be battered by huge waves and storm surges.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green declared a state of emergency for the entire state. The Hawaii National Guard  has been activated. 

All this comes less than a month after Hurricane Lala sideswept Hawaii, causing enormous flood and mudslides especially on the Big Island. One spot on the Big Island had 43.54 inches of rain as the hurricane passed by just to south of Hawaii.

HURRICANE MARIE

Meanwhile, Hurricane Marie moved north to northwest out in the Pacific Ocean, far to the southwest of California. By today, it was over cooler water, and it had weakened to a tropical storm. 

Still, it was able to last longer than most hurricanes that get that far north, due to oddly warm water. The storm is throwing immense waves at southern California, 

Some waves on south facing California beaches reached ten feet high. Video showed waves smashing into seaside homes and condos, flooding garages and some lower floors. Parking lots were inundated. 

The National Hurricane Center said that dangerous surf conditions would continue today and tomorrow..

Moisture streaming off of Marie caused some unseasonable showers in southern California. It's also unusually humid in southern California because of the moisture from Marie, and because offshore waters are unusually warm. Heat advisories are in effect through Thursday as a result.

The humid air might also prompt tropical-like thunderstorms, which are exceptionally rare for southern California. 

 Meanwhile, in the Atlantic Ocean, which should be busy with tropical storms and/or hurricanes now, is still strangely quiet at the peak of the normal season. The National Hurricane Center says no tropical storms are expected over the next seven days.  

Tropical Storm Eduoard Drowns Part Of Texas; ; But Storms Lacking In Atlantic; Pacific Ocean Is Wild, Though

Although the Atlantic Ocean is quiet, hurricanes are
spinning up frequently in the very warm Pacific Ocean.
from left to right, Hurricane Lowell south of Hawaii,
Hurricane Karina in the middle and Hurricane Marie
off the west coast of Mexico

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall as a 60 mph tropical storm just east of the mouth of the Sabine River in far southwestern Louisiana Tuesday afternoon.  

It might have not been the strongest tropical system ever, but it showed remarkable staying power as it moved inland. Tropical storms tend to fall apart quickly once they move inland. Edouard did not.

Nearly 24 hours after making landfall, it still kept its general shape. Wind advisories for gusts up to 40 mph were in effect two days after landfall. 

The real problem, though, was the flooding. The storm dumped 18 to 24 inches on some areas of East Texas. In one town, 27.53 inches of rain fell. This all forced  dozens of rescues from flooded cars, homes, even an assisted living facility. 

So it was a destructive mess, but at least it wasn't as bad as a full hurricane.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Edouard was a persistent little devil. But this is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. You'd expect full-blown hurricanes this time of year, but nothing. We've had five tropical storms this year in the Atlantic, and none made it to hurricane status. 

Three of the storms - Arthur, Bertha and Edouard - affected the western Gulf Coast. 

The United States is enjoying a very quiet hurricane season so far thanks to the big giant El Nino that has developed eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Ninos affect weather patterns around the world.

In the Atlantic Ocean, El Nino creates strong upper level winds. Tropical storms start out as clumps of thunderstorms over the tropical oceans.  The strong upper level winds rips those storms apart. Or, if a tropical storm or hurricane has formed and then encounters those strong winds way high up, the thunderstorms in the tropical system either get ripped apart or get tugged away from the storm's center, causing a weakening trend.

Unless things change dramatically in the Atlantic Ocean soon, this could easily be among the quietest hurricane seasons on record. Which is a nice switch from the slew of busy, destructive seasons we've had in recent years. 

The East Coast of the United States is being spared a bad hurricane season, but we're not out of the woods. We could always have a late season hurricane. And El Nino could well create extreme late autumn and winter storms that would cause their own damage. 

PACIFIC OCEAN

On the other hand, Pacific Ocean hurricanes love El Ninos. 

The ocean is oddly warm during El Ninos, and upper level winds are light. Perfect conditions for incubating hurricanes. 

This year, hurricanes have been forming one after another in the eastern Pacific Ocean and then heading west.

Hurricane Lowell is currently the most concerning of the bunch. It was spinning several hundred miles south of Hawaii. It's was a major hurricane with winds of 140 mph. Meteorologists think it will turn a sharp turn north and eventually pass perilously close to the western Hawaiian islands. However, that forecast is still really uncertain, so stay tuned. 

As of Thursday morning, Hurricane Karina was churned well east of the Hawaii with top winds of 115 mph..

.Hurricane Marie was several hundred miles southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. It had winds of 90 mph and was strengthening as it headed northwestward away from Mexico

Another tropical storm could form off the southwest coast of Mexico in the coming days.  

Hawaii Starts Cleanup After Enormous Hurricane-Related Floods

Damage from Hurricane Lala in Hawaii. The storm 
brushed past Hawaii Sunday, causing widespread damage

The center of Hurricane Lala ended up just missing Hawaii on Sunday,  but it still left a mess on the chain of islands. 

At least one person died and left tens of thousands of people without power after the storm caused high winds and especially catastrophic flooding on many parts of the island chain

 As PBS reports:

"Laupahoehoe, on the northeast coast of the Big Island, saw the heaviest recorded rainfall at 43.54 inches. The highest winds were atop the towering Mauna Kea volcano, where gusts hit 140 mph. At the lower elevation, residents all across the island chain experienced tropical storm force winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph. 

The storm felled trees and power lines and caused serious flooding that swept some 100 homes from their foundations on the Big Island, authorities said. Gov. Josh Green said Sunday that no one is believed to have died when the homes washed away." 

Green said the flooding was more destructive than the wind. "It's the flood and the mud and the rock that poured through Naalehu, Pahala, Waiohinu..... These communities have a lot of cleanup to do and they're going to need a lot of support."

Hurricane Lala was on course to hit the Big Island of Hawaii, which would have made it the first time that's happened since 1871. However, it passed about 30 miles south of the island, The sprawling storm was still more than big enough to spread havoc through the Hawaiian islands.

Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm once it got past the Big Island as it continued westward. However, once past the islands, it intensified again. Lala has sustained winds of 125 mph this morning at a position well west of Hawaii. 

The water is usually warmer west of the islands, which helps explain why the hurricane re-strenghened  Very warm ocean water is jet fuel for hurricanes.The hurricane is expected to turn northward and weaken again 

The eastern and central Pacific Ocean is at or near record warm temperatures, thanks to a combination of climate change and El Nino.  That makes the Hawaiian islands more vulnerable to hurricanes than usually. Historically, the water near the island chain has been relatively cool, which usually weakens tropical storms and hurricanes when they approach the state. 

Video:

Video from Jonathan Petramala gives a great summary of how much water and wind swept the Big Island. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.

 

Storms In Hawaii Cause Widespread Flooding, Other Havoc. Worst In Years

Torrential rains in Hawaii made this house
slide down into a raging river as a 
long lasting, severe storm rakes the
islands. Photo via Facebook, 
Dillon Mitchell 

A week long storm is easing - but not quite done - as Hawaii once again reels from widespread flooding, wind damage and landslides. This storm was the worst in a series. 

As Forbes reports:

"Governor Josh Green declared a state of emergency as the week-long onslaught of rainfall, landslides and infrastructure damage continued into the weekend."

Forbes continued: 

"'Maui got it even worse and locals describe that the whole island feels like it is underwater,; wrote his Dodds in Surfer. He continued: 'The steep slopes around Haleakala turned into walls of mud, rock and debris moving at terrifying speed. Some are calling it the worst rainstorm in the island's modern history.'"

Rainfall amounts were incredible. A site in Maui recorded a five-day total of 44.37 inches of rain. Other sites on Maui had 25 to 35 inches of rain over those five days. 

On the big island of Hawaii, Mauna Loa had 25.45 inches of rain in five days with other sites on the Big Island coming in with over 20 inches. A few locations on Kauai and Oahu reported nearly 20 inches of rain over that five-day period. 

Those rainfall amounts were even greater than forecasts, which were themselves ominous. 

On Maui, roads became rivers, with vehicles floating in them like leaves in a stream. In one neighborhood, a large storage container joined the vehicles that had floated downstream. Tourists could not cross the rushing water on the streets to make it back to their condos. It was too dangerous. 

 Power outages have kept coming in recent days even as crews have worked in the storms to restore power. More than 120,000 Hawaiian homes and businesses were without power Friday. That number was at around 114,000 on Saturday. 

More than 100,000 Hawaiians were without power Saturday. 

The Hawaii Department of Transportation reported parts of numerous roads closed due to the heavy rain and flooding

In Waikiki, news video showed high winds and sheets of heavy rain, making the streets look like they were enduring an approaching hurricane. Streets and sidewalks were louder water. In a luxury shopping district, an enormous tree collapsed in the storm, blocking most lanes of a wide, busy avenue. 

Nearly an hours's drive from Waikiki on Oahu's North Shore, things were even worse. Major roads, fields,s, and even a major beach access were under muddy water because of the relentless rain 

Video from Maui showed a house collapsing into a swollen river. Sections of roads have collapsed, some taking cars and SUVs with them.  

On the Big Island, Kilauea volcano complicated things further. Just before the storm, an eruption created a rain of tephra (chunks of lightweight lava, debris and ash) on areas surround the volcano. That's the second time this winter such an event happened, and this one was more extensive than a tephra fall back in January.  In some places six inches of tephra accumulated.

Cleaning up that mess was complicated by the heavy rains. And I imagine the tephra clogged ditches and brooks somewhat, which would exacerbate flooding. 

If this post sounds kind of familiar, it's because we reported on another destructive storm back on  February 11.  It's been an incredibly rainy, windy winter in Hawaii

As I earlier noted, the storm over the past few days far outdid and out-damaged all the other previous storms this winter.   

Some of the storm's origins came from as far as the southwestern United States. The building heat wave and strong dry high pressure is causing a blockage in the atmosphere, allowing a train of storms to blast through the Hawaiian Islands. 

The principal storm was know as a Kona Low, which frequently occur in Hawaii during the winter. Usually winds in Hawaii blow from the east. A Kona Low forms when winds shift to the west or southwest, bringing much more humid air from the tropics. 

Because of the usual trade winds, the wettest parts of Hawaii are on the north and east side of the islands. South and west sides are actually pretty dry. The Kona storms, with their high humidity and southwest winds, can drown the the drier parts of the island. 

The storm is easing as to today. Instead of wet southwest winds, or the usual east to northeast trade winds, the breezes are slackening to near calm. That'll keep showers going all week across the islands. There's the risk of yet another Kona storm towar

 

Other States Having Bad Weather Too: Florida Fire And Ice, Hawaii Flood, California Whiplash

Aerial view of one of the brush fires burning
in Florida. Drought, freeze damage, dry air
and gusty winds are causing several
wildfires around Florida. 

While all eyes are on the Blizzard of '26 ripping through the Northeast today, a few other areas of the United States are having their share of troubles, too. Florida is burning, and freezing again. Hawaii is flooding. Some of that deep snow California just got is about to wash away. 

Let's take a look, 

FLORIDA

After some record heat as relief from the freezes earlier this month, that New England nor'easter is pushing another shot of cold, dry air down into Florida. 

Freeze warnings once again cover most of Florida, extending as far down as southwest Florida below Naples. The freezes will hit areas already devastated by record cold in the opening week of February. 

Crops had just been replanted and had been growing in consistently warmer weather over the past two weeks. This will add to the destruction. One example is a tree farm in Indiantown consists mostly of just brown trees gutted and wilted by freezes earlier this month.

Worse, Florida is in a severe drought and the nor'easter is bringing gusty, very dry winds into the state today. Florida has had numerous wild lands fires this month already. The fire danger is almost off the charts today. 

One large fire blasted through 500 acres in Osceola County, Florida over the weekend.  Another brush fire earlier this month spread to a company that makes plastic pots and other equipment for plant nurseries. That fire sent thick clouds of black smoke billowing into the air.

It will turn warmer again in Florida later this week and it appears the frost danger will be over after Tuesday morning. However, not enough rain is expected to ease the drought, so the fire danger will probably last well into the spring. 

HAWAII

Torrential rains struck the island of Oahu in Hawaii over the weekend, causing some serious flash flooding. One town had 1.3 inches of rain in just a few minutes as the downpours passed through. 

Drone footage showed several homes flooded in Wailalua, as residents were evacuated by local officials.  Several roads were closed as water swept over them. The city and county on Honolulu have set up an online for for Oahu resident to report flood damage. 

Other video showed a stormwater easement that has never caused trouble gushing upward and pushing water into at least two homes. 

Moanalua Stream reached a record flood stage at 10.76 feet. KHON news showed video of many streets underwater, and torrents of muddy water pouring down steep hillsides. W driveways. ater lapped at doorsteps and flooded

The Honolulu Zoo also closed due to the heavy rain.

You can't directly blame a storm like this on climate change, but the Hawaiian storm is consistent with climate change's ability to make rain events more intense. 

Flood watches remained in effect until later today for large parts of the Hawaiian islands

The flooding was the second destructive storm in Hawaii this month. High winds on February 7 and 8 caused widespread damage in Hawaii on February 7-8.

CALIFORNIA

Last week, the higher elevations had a TON of snow last week. Snow fell at elevations as low as 2,000 feet. Higher elevations above 7,000 or 8,000 feet had 7 to 11 feet of snow 

Rain will fall tomorrow at elevations of up to 9.500 feet in California as the weather system is coming from the tropics. There is a flood risk, but on the bright side, the rainfall won't be super heavy. The flooding might occur on lower elevations that got some unusual snow last week. The melting snow and rain could raise river levels.

Higher up, the rain will just soak into the 7 to 10 feet of snow from last week. In a way, this is good, because it will increase the water content in the snow.

The rain will probably ruin what many in California said was some of the best powder days of their lives at resorts like Kirkwood. If you want to vicariously live through such a day in the California Sierras, click here for a Tahoe Mountain Life video showing the joy of eight feet of new powder on a bluebird winter day.

Peaceful Tropical Vacations Blasted By Wild Hawaiian Storm

So much for peaceful, tropical vacation.

Damage in Hawaii from an intense storm
that hit over the weekend and Monday. Image
from Hawaii News Now/Facebook

Residents and vacationers alike in Hawaii last weekend and early this week endured a storm that packed winds as high as 70 mph and dumped up to 30 inches of rain in at least one spot. 

As AccuWeather tells us:

"Winds gusted over 70 mph on the islands of Maui and Molokai, with gusts over 60 mph on Oahu, Lanai and the Big Island. Rainfall amounts exceeded 30 inches at Laupahoehoe on the Big Island, with 23.22 inches at Waikamoi on Maui." 

Needless to say, there were lots of power outages, along with property damage, torn away roofs  and flooding on the islands.

The storms brought widespread problems to Honolulu. "The Honolulu Fire Department reports that since Saturday, they responded to nearly 100 calls, with 60 of them for downed tres, 22 for blown roofs and 1 for downed power lines," Hawaii News Now reports. 

An apartment building was one of the structures that lost its roof. That incident displaced 12 people. Elsewhere in Honolulu, video captured winds tearing the roof off of a house. Luckily, the house was vacant, so nobody was hurt or displaced.  

In Manoa, near Honolulu, residents said downslope winds were "far, far worse" than a hurricane. In immense, ancient tree in one neighborhood was uprooted.

Elsewhere, a large landslide shut down a major highway on Maui .

A storm south of Hawaii and high pressure north of the islands created an atmospheric squeeze play that created the strong winds. 

The storm began in earnest Sunday and continued Monday. The state of Hawaii basically shut down as schools, the courts, libraries and many businesses closed. The State Legislature opted not to meet on Monday.

Tourists had to hunker down, too as parks camping areas, zoos, botanical gardens and other attractions all shut down. 

The storm had eased by Tuesday so most offices and businesses were reopening.  Breezy, unsettled weather will continue in the Hawaiian islands for at least the next week or so, but no more extremes seem to be in the islands' immediate future. 

Video:

News account of the strong winds and damage on Oahu. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

It Rained Rocks In Hawaii

Tephra or light weight volcanic rock and ash,
covers this car in Hawaii after a Kilauea 
eruption sent debris into populated areas.

 OK, this isn't really a weather or climate story, but close enough. It involves rain, but not the type of rain made up of water, frozen or otherwise. 

This rain, in Hawaii, was rocks. 

The uber-active Kilauea erupted again last Saturday, pushing fountains of lava 1,000 feet into the air. 

But what goes up must come down. And people around the park ended up enduring a tephra storm. 

Tephra is rocks and ash ejected from a volcano. Kilauea regularly discharges both lava and tephra, but the material usually lands on areas that are too dangerous for people. Saturday, unusually light winds made the tephra fall in populated areas near the volcano.

The debris fell on summit overlooks, trails, roads and even some residential areas. A section of Route 11 was closed. 

According to Hawaii News Now

'Some debris close to the size of a grapefruit was reported in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, including at Uekahuna, the Steam Vents, Volcano House and Keanakako'i, where the rocks were reported to be still hot when they fell.

'I haven't seen this one yet. This is uncharted territory for the Volcano Village,' said Eli Schonbrod, general manager for the Lanikai Brewing Company. 

Colleen Gifford, a cashier at the Kilauea General Store, has lived on Hawaii Island for 40 years, and she she has 'never, ever seen it like this.'"

Some very small tephra - basically bits of ash - was spotted as far away as Hilo, more than 25 miles away. 

Video showed what looked like a black hailstorm, thunking down on car roofs, and littering roadways, parking lots, lawn and roofs with what looked like millions of pieces of crumbled black paper.

Tephra is more light weight than rocks, so it wasn't smashing cars and roofs. It was kind of remotely a storm of falling Brillo pads. But tepha can be sharp, pointy enough to scratch paint. A few people who were out in the tephra storm were scratched enough to bleed slightly. 

Of course, the tephra made a big mess. The day after the eruption, people were seen sweeping and shoveling piles of it away. Plows had to clear one section of a road as if there were a tropical snowstorm. Many roofs remained littered with the stuff. It'll probably come down from the roofs the next time it gets windy or it rains. 

Although more Kilauea eruptions are inevitable, the tephra is unlikely to be a problem again. Almost always, trade winds veer this stuff away from people, as mentioned. This was basically just a one-off. 

Videos

News report of what it all looked and sounded like. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.

Cleanup from the eruption looked like it was quite a chore. Again, click on this link or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

 

Hawaii Volcano Destroys One Of The Cameras Monitoring It; Camera's Last Moments Are Fascinating

The live cameras trained on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano are often a must-watch. 

Screen grab from a camera on Kilauea just before it was
destroyed by an eruption Saturday. This shows lava
splattering down right in front of the camera. 
Moments later, the camera went off line, destroyed. 

Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, so we often in these web cams we are treated to views of fountains of lava gushing high into the air.  Powerful. Beautiful. Scary. 

On Saturday, Kilauea killed one of those web cams, and viewers got to watch its spectacular death. 

Now, this isn't really a weather or climate story, but the images are too good to pass up. 

The United States Geological Survey have set up the cameras around Kilauea for all of us to enjoy. All except the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's V3 streaming camera is still operating. The camera named V3 was killed by the volcano on Saturday. RIP V3.  

Kilauea erupted Saturday, and it was one of the biggest of the year. Vents sent lava as high as 1,000 feet in the air. The lava burst out at angles, not straight up. That was especially the case from a southernmost vent, which is why the camera got nailed. 

Per The Watchers.

"Hot pumice and molten spatter from this south vent reached the V3 streaming camera site on the south rim of Halema'uma'u crater just before 10 HST (10 a.m. Hawaiian time). Video released by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the final seconds of the camera feed as the lens was obscured by tephra and the transmission abruptly ended. The device was later confirmed destroyed by direct impact and burial."

The video is something to see. At first you see huge amounts of lava rocketing skyward, then falling in an oddly graceful fashion. The eruption keeps getting closer, until you see hot pumice stones and chunks of lava landing right in front of the camera. 

Finally, the view is buried and smoke and steam. Right before it cuts out, a big chunk of red lava appears to land on the camera. 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.  

 

Hawaii Second Anniversary Of Deadly Wildfire: Slow Recovery In Destroyed Lahaina

A sign of hope in Lahaina, Hawaii,
destroyed by a deadly wildfire on 
this date in 2023 Top photo is the
badly scorched enormous banyan
tree in Lahaina immediately after
the fire. Bottom photo is what the
rejuvenated tree looks like now,

 Two years ago today, one of the worst wildfires in U.S. history hit in and around Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. It killed 102 people, destroyed more than 2,200 structures and caused $5.5 billion in damage. 

It laid to waste a historic tourist city, and it's still just starting to try to bounce back. 

The tragedy is another cautionary tale -  much like the slow fire recovery in destroyed towns like Paradise, California -  that tells us once a community burns down in a wildfire, the comeback is incredibly slow. 

Even worse, the same places burned in previous wildfires are at risk for getting hit again. 

DIFFICULT RECOVERY

The lead paragraphs in an August 5 Hawaii Public Radio piece tells the continued sad story:

"Two years after the fire, Maui survivors still face challenges with housing, insurance, FEMA assistance, building permits and a laundry list of other obstacles. Under the surface, many survivors are mentally struggling right now - and they're not alone."

The University of Hawaii's Maui Wildlife Exposure Study says almost half the adults in their mental health research said almost half of the adults are still living in temporary housing and a quarter remain unemployed despite trying to find work. 

Home rebuilding is only now getting under way in Lahaina. Hawaii Public Radio says hundreds of homes are now under construction, but only 45 have been completed so far. An additional 450 building permits have been issued, and more than 300 are being processed.

The time consuming process of rebuilding is expensive. Many are still paying a mortgage on their destroyed homes, and simultaneously paying rent elsewhere.   Here's an example Hawaii Public Radio provides:

"Fire survivor Jeremy DelosReyes and his wife, Gracie, have poured the cement foundation of their new home He's constructing their own rebuild, but it's been a financial struggle - and they didn't qualify for FEMA assistance.

'I had a 2,200 square foot house.... At $500 a square foot, my house is going to cost me $1.2 million. I have $400,000 of insurance. I pay $4,000 a month in rent. I got to come up with $6,000 just to cover my mortgage and rent.'"

Lahaina residents are also trying to build more fire-resistant houses, which are more expensive that older styles. For instance. a metal roof could cost $30,000 more than older style roofs, 

The main business district on Front Street was obliterated in the fire. The debris was cleaned up, and then.....nothing.  The future of that area of Lahaina is still up in the air. 

The wildfire claimed about 800 business and 7,000 jobs. Only one business has reopened: The Hi Surf Club Maui, operating out of donated van where the original building once stood on Breakwall Beach, according to KHON.

The shell of the building that used to house Fleetwood's On Front Street, s a popular restaurant owned by Fleetwood Mac found Mick Fleetwood, recently announced they plan to rebuild and reopen in 2026.

NEW FIRE SCARE

I imagine pretty much everyone in Lahaina still has PTSD from that fire. So it had to be frightening when a new wildfire broke out Monday near Lahaina. 

It spread over hills around Kaanapali, about two miles north of Lahaina, closing down a highway and forcing about 50 people to evacuate. 

Unlike the tragedy of 2023, this time, firefighters gained the upper hand and extinguished the fire with any homes being lost. The fire did burn through 33 acres. 

BANYAN TREE

One of the biggest potential losses in Lahaina during the fire was an immense banyan tree that was left entire blackened and scorched in the fire. 

The historic tree was planted by Sheriff William Owen Smith in 1873 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant missionaries in Lahaina..

Immediately after the fire, arborists examine the tree determined much of it could be saved with a lot to TLC.

The result, two years after the fire, is a thriving banyan tree, as KHON tells us: 

"'It's really, really healthy,' explained Duane Parkman, arborist committee chair and Treecovery Lahaina president. 'We're super stoked to see as much growth as we've seen in the past year and a half. We've seen aerial roots coming down from almost 20 feet high, and they're almost touching the ground already. There's so much fruit - it's become a habitat again. It's a thriving tree system."

The tree isn't open to the public yet, as some branches are still unstable, but they'll strengthen up. Replacement benches are being replaced beneath the tree. The banyan is the Lahaina gathering place, especially since it's about ten degrees cooler beneath the tree than elsewhere under the hot Hawaiian sun. 

The hope is the banyan, the centerpiece of Lahaina, is a premonition of a future town - one that might be a lot different than the old one, but thriving anyway. 

 

Another DOGE/Trump Casualty: Crucial Carbon Dioxide Monitoring At Hawaii Site

This is the record dating back 67 years of atmospheric
carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, as
measured on Mauna Loa, Hawaii.  Trump and his
Musk/DOGE crowd apparently want to end these decades-
long observations. The excuse is saving money, but
likely just as much climate denial.

 Another likely casualty of Trump and the DOGE morons: A historic, closely watched, important constant measurement of global atmosphere carbon dioxide could be about to go by the wayside. 

Elon Musk and his DOGE minions want to shut down the more than six decade long science experiment  conducted on a Hawaii volcano.  

Per USA Today:

"Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is considering terminating the lease of a tiny office that supports a huge climate science experiment - one that's been ongoing for 67 years." 

Only eight people work at the office, Suite 102 at the Kilauea Financial Plaza in Hilo.  Once a week or so, one of the employees takes a quick helicopter ride up to a spot 11,135 feet above sea level on a high slope of the Mauna Loa volcano.

Doesn't sound like a big deal, but this is.  The scientists  do several observations of the atmosphere, and one of these regular observations is one of the most precise and long running, and most watched climate experiments in the world. 

The scientists have been tracking carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for 60 years. This long-running experiment provided the first significant, concrete evidence that the earth' CO2 levels were steadily rising, as USA Today reported.

The Mauna Loa site is perfect for these measurements, as NOAA tells us: "The observatory protrudes through the strong marine temperature inversion layer present in the region, which separate the more polluted lower portions of the atmosphere from the much cleaner free troposphere. 

"The undisturbed air, remote location, and minimal influence of vegetation and human activity at MLO are ideal for monitoring constituents in the atmosphere that can cause climate change."

The DOGE people say closing the Hilo facility would save $164,000 or so. That's not much given the size of the overall federal budget.  My conspiratorial mind wants to think it's because climate change i central to the Mauna Loa site, and we all know how Trump hates it when somebody dares to say climate change is an actual thing. 

I'm not the only one thinking this way. In it's journalistic way, the Washington Post beat around the bush a little but you'll get the point in this excerpt from their article:

"Data collected from the observatory have shown global carbon dioxide levels - the most significant driver behind record planetary warming - are rising faster than ever recorded. Trump has been dismissive of that data and the consensus around climate change and his allies who wrote the policy playbook Project 2025 proposed dismantling NOAA, calling it a source of climate alarmism." 

Climate scientist Michael Mann, posted his reaction to all this on Bluesky was, as usual, more blunt.   "See no climate change, hear no climate change, and speak no climate change."

As usual, the Trump/DOGE crowd don't seem to be coordinating things or understanding what is going on. 

If the Hilo office closes, the Mauna Loa observatory would still be there, but with the office gone and the staff fired, if Musk gets his way, there will be nobody to do the actual work up there. 

There's another testing site on Mauna Kea, another volcano nearby, but again, that site needs NOAA staff to maintain the equipment. 

Not only is the climate data from Mauna Loa valuable, and a resource we might be about to lose, but the move to shut this all down gets rid of history, too.

Back in 1958, scientist Charles David Keeling began the measurements in 1958.  His measurements made two important discoveries. He was the first person to record Earth's breathing  - a regular rhythm of peaks and valleys in carbon dioxide concentrations.  

This proved that seasonally, plants take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere when they're growing, and release it back when the growing season is over and the plants died.

Even more importantly, he was the first to prove that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were rising due to fossil fuel emissions. This discovery really laid the foundation to the detailed climate change science we have today. 

Before the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at around 280 parts per million. When Keeling first started measuring in 1958, it was up to 313 parts per million. Now, we're up to 427 parts per million and still going up. 

That amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere sounds like a trifle to the untrained eye. But the last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was about 3 million years ago. At that time, sea levels were as much as 30 feet higher than they are now, and camel-like animals roamed the forested high Arctic, which is nowadays covered in ice.  

That's part of the future we face at least someday due to our sky-high emissions of fossil fuels over the past 150 years or so. 

Hawaii Storm Creates Floods, High Winds, Even Snow And Tornado Risk

A KHON reporter gets splashed by water from passing
vehicles as she reports on flooding in Hawaii Thursday.
The island chain is being hit by an unusually
strong storm that will also bring heavy rains
to California this weekend. 

An unusually powerful storm is slapping Hawaii with a wide variety of rough weather. 

The entire island chain was under a high wind warning until noon Friday. Flooding was developing. There was a risk of severe thunderstorms and even the risk of a tornado or two, which is very rare for Hawaii. 

Power outages were already increasing across Hawaii during the day Thursday. Residents inMaui were told to stay off roads due to high winds and flooding. 

As of early Friday several roads were blocked by flooding as rain came down at a rate of one to as much as three inches per hour. 

The city of Kahului on Maui reported an inch of rain in an hour and wind gusts to 50 mph, which is highly unusual stormy for the location. The National Weather Service warned Maui residents of impending significant and life-threatening flash floods and landslides. 

One town in Maui received 13 inches of rain in the storm. A weather station atop a Maui mountain reported a wind gust to 120 mph. 

Honolulu was slammed by more than 3.5 inches of rain, including just under two inches of rain in two hours. That two inches in two hours is more rain than what normally falls on Honolulu during the entire month of January.  

Winter storms sometimes affect Hawaii this time of year, but this one is especially powerful. 

The storm was expected to deepen to 986 millibars, at a latitude a little south of 30 degrees N which is unusual for a storm that far south. It's about the same latitude as northern Mexico.

The storm is close enough to drag a cold front through Hawaii, which is kind of rare for that far south. Ahead of the front, forecasters were worried about rotating thunderstorms that could produce those waterspouts or potential tornadoes. 

 Early Friday our time on the East Coast, the torrential rains were just moving into the Big Island of Hawaii, and new flash flood warnings were issued for parts of that island.  

Atop the highest volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii, winter storm warnings were in effect.  Winter storm warnings up there are actually not all that weird for Hawaii.  The summits are expecting five to ten inches of snow, with wind gusts possibly reaching as high as 90 mph. 

ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS

What goes on in Hawaii doesn't stay in Hawaii.  The storm north of Hawaii will contribute to atmospheric rivers that will start hitting California today and intensify over the weekend. 

Flood watches are already up for central California, including San Francisco and Sacramento.  This is a "Pineapple Express" from near Hawaii, as we mentioned so it's a warm atmospheric river. That means rain instead of snow will fall pretty high up the slopes of the Sierra Nevada range. Elevations as high as 7,800 to 8,000 feet look like they are in for rain instead of snow. 

There could even be some flooding near Lake Tahoe. 

Southern California, still suffering from a drought, is expected to mostly miss out on this atmosphere river. It probably won't rain down there until Tuesday. It's just as well the rain in southern California won't be torrential, as that would lead to more mudslides and debris flows in areas that suffered through those huge January wildfires. 

Eventually the atmospheric river could consolidate into a storm that might affect us here in Vermont around next Thursday. Watch this space for updates in the coming days. 

 

Fossil Fuel Giants Lose Bid To Dismiss Lawsuit Against Them

It's beginning to look like the fossil fuel industry is 
not have an easy time in courts and with lawsuits
as they had hoped. 

 The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month shut down an attempt by fossil fuel companies to avoid a climate change lawsuit against them. 

Per Courthouse News, the lawsuit is seeking "to hold companies liable over claims of deceptive marketing about the effect of greenhouse gases.

Companies such as Sunoco, Exxon Mobile, Chevron and BP said they are facing dozens of lawsuits, leaving a vital industry at risk of owing billions of dollars over accusations it causes climate change.

The justices denied the oil and gas companies' petition without further explanation in Monday's orders list."

Frankly, I was a little surprised the seriously right leaning Supreme Court would make a decision like this, but there you go. 

This all started in 2017, when Honolulu filed suit and against the oil giants. The claim was the companies misled consumers about fossil fuel impacts on climate change. This, said Honolulu's lawsuit, led to increased fossil fuel consumption and worsened the impacts of climate change in Hawaii. 

Honolulu cited state laws in its suit but the companies wanted it all transferred to federal court. Three courts denied that wish. 

Continues Courthouse News: 

"Once the case was kicked back to state court, the companies tried to get the lawsuit dismissed. Exxon and others argue that the state courts do not have jurisdiction to hear the dispute because the case involves the impact of interstate and international climate change."

That Exxon failed with this argument might have an impact on Vermont's "climate superfund" law and a similar statute just recently signed into law in New York State.

In a lawsuit recently filed against Vermont and its "Climate Superfund" law, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and oil companies contend that the law violated domestic and foreign commerce clauses by discriminating "against the important interest of other states by targeting large energy companies outside of Vermont."

I don't know whether the Hawaii case will have an influence here given there's other aspects of the lawsuit  against Vermont. Those include the contention it violates the U.S. Constitution and is pre-empted by the federal Clean Air Act. 

Maybe I'm being a bit of a Pollyanna here, but it's beginning to look like it's at least possible that the fossil fuel industry won't get as much sympathy from the courts as they'd hoped. 

 

Japanese Palm Tree Gains Big Fans After Surviving Punishing Typhoon

 There's something about certain trees that I become deeply emotionally attached to.

This palm tree in Japan, nicknamed Yasshi, was whipped
violently recently for hours by a typhoon. It was on a 
live camera feed and people became intensely interested
in its survival. It ended up doing fine and is
still standing after the typhoon. 

As a child, there was an immense sugar maple on our property. It had five main branches, each about the size of a mature old maple, sprouting from the most wide tree trunk I've ever seen. 

 My dad built a tree house in it for me. I'd spend hours up there, decompressing from the effects of a high strung mom. And inventing in my head adventure movies starring Yours Truly. 

My sister Lynn and I spent countless hours under that tree. In the fall, we'd jump off the swing into an immense pile of leaves from that maple. 

I still cherish the memory, I wept when it was cut down by the power company because they didn't like how close it was to their wires.

As an adult, I have three immense poplar trees in my St. Albans, Vermont back yard. I call them the triplets. Like all close friends, they can be a pain in the butt, like when wind storms prune some dead twigs from it, or it extends annoying roots into my summertime raised beds.

But the triplets are an ingrained part of my life. I can hear them outside now, a gusty wind whooshing through the thousands of leaves up there. 

All this is to say that humans love trees. Most of us, anyway. 

Which leads us to Kyushu, Japan. It's the nation's most southwestern-most main island, which was just hit by Typhoon Shanshan. 

It was a nasty storm, as typhoons usually are, causing devastating winds, floods and storm surges.  

As the Washington Post reports, thousands of people were drawn to a YouTube live stream showing the coast of Kyushu, in the throes of Typhoon Shanshan. In the video's foreground was a palm tree, whipping back and forth violently, always seemingly on the verge of snapping under the force of the hurricane winds. 

But the tree never succumbed. The typhoon's forward motion was slow, meaning the island - and the tree - were subject to horrendous winds for a longer period of time than people experience in most typhoons or hurricanes.

(Typhoons are what hurricanes are called in the western Pacific Ocean).

As WaPo reports, the tree's performance won worldwide fans. "The dramatic display of resilience won the hearts of thousands online, many of whom flooded the comments to root for the tree. - known affectionately as "Yasshi" - to survive."

The spoiler here is the tree indeed survived. The typhoon moved on and the live stream after the storm showed the tree with its fronds battered by the wind, but standing tall. 

There's something about trees, especially ones under duress, that we all root for. When I watch all those severe storm and tornadoes on YouTube (I'm a hopeless weather geek after all). I always root for the storm tossed trees to somehow survive.

When iconic trees die, or are killed, or are endangered, we all collective mourn. Some examples:

Hawaii Banyan

An enormous 150-year-old banyan tree in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii was badly burned during last August's   catastrophic wildfire that destroyed most of the tourist city.  People seemed almost more upset by the potential loss of the tree than the deaths and destruction in Lahaina.

People have been tracking the fate of the banyan tree ever since.  As the Associated Press reports, the sprawling tree survived and is coming back to life, gradually turning from ash gray and black scar he'd to green and growing back.  All thanks to intense efforts by arborists and volunteers. 

Half the tree's branches died in the fire. But arborists carefully removed those branches so the tree would redirect its energy toward the branches that might survive. Heavy irrigation and care has resulted in new green leaves and branches sprouting. The tree will survive.

British Vandalism Victim

International outrage erupted when some complete morons in 2023 cut down the Sycamore Gap tree in Britain. It was one of the most photographed places in the world. The tree sat between and at the base of two steep slopes. 

Two people were arrested, a 16 year old and man in his 60s. But they were subsequently freed. Two men in their 30s were then charged. They face fines equivalent to the estimated worth of the tree, which was about $785,000. No motive has been provided. 

Eight tiny shoots have since emerged from the stump of the tree, suggesting it might regenerate itself in some form. 

Washington DC's Stumpy 

The Tidal Basin in Washington DC is famed for its annual spring cherry blossoms. About 3,700 cherry trees put on a spectacular display every spring, usually in mid to late March. 

Climate change has made the Tidal Basin even more tidal. Sea level rise has caused more flooding, which affected some of the cherry trees.  The salt water damages the roots, and the trees get sick and eventually die. Earlier this year, the National Park Service cut down about 160 cherry trees due to rising tides and damage.

One of those trees was Stumpy. 

Stumpy, as a certain tree was dubbed, became something of a national treasure.  The salt damage made it gnarled, stunted and misshapen. Think the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, except worse. 

Stumpy's persistence and unique look won it tons of fans.  It was chopped down this year along with the 160 others. But right before that happened, Stumpy put on a blossom show that was its best in years. 

That tree wanted to go out with a bang.  God bless it. 

Meanwhile, in Japan, Typhoon Shanshan is long gone. Yasshi can recover in the tropical sun until the next typhoon comes along. 

Video: Yasshi the palm tree survives a typhoon. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Still A Lull In Atlantic Hurricanes, But Pacific Busy, Hawaii On Guard

Hone passing south of Hawaii's Big Island over the weekend.

 An odd lull in tropical storm and hurricane activity continues for now in the Atlantic Ocean, with no signs of a new tropical storm forming for the next few days. 

The Pacific Ocean side of things has gotten busy, though. And that includes a menace to Hawaii.

Tropical Storm Hone (pronounced "ho-NEH") increased to hurricane intensity with top winds of 80 mph as it passed south of the Big Island of Hawaii early Sunday.  

The storm brought tropical storm force winds to parts of the Big Island, along with more than half a foot of rain on slopes that faced the east winds created by Hone. 

Flash flooding was reported in some areas, but overall damage wasn't too bad. A landslide blocked a highway.  High winds blew the roof off at least one home.

Hone weakened somewhat back down to a tropical storm once it got past Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Gilma, once a powerful Category 4 hurricane is moving westward in the general direction of Hawaii. It should be somewhere near Hawaiian Islands by the end of the week. But by then, forecasters said, Gilma will have weakened to a swirl of relatively weak winds and showers. 

ATLANTIC

The expected super busy Atlantic hurricane season went into a big stall over the past week with fortunately no activity.  This was a bit unexpected as we approach the peak of what should be hurricane season.  

A welcome sight over the past weeks. No forecasted
tropical storms in the Atlantic from the National Hurricane
Center. This image was on their page Tuesday morning. 

This time of year, disturbances often move off the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean, where some of them turn into tropical storms or hurricanes. 

 Some meteorologists are saying that in the past couple weeks, the disturbances are moving off the African coast further north than usual.

That puts the disturbances in cooler, drier air than they'd be in had they been further south. The cool, dry air tends to suppress development. 

Ocean temperatures are really warm out there, which is great for developing hurricanes. But the upper atmosphere far above the ocean is also oddly warm.  You need a contrast between a hot ocean and a cold upper atmosphere to create the thunderstorms that eventually turn into hurricanes. 

The lack of a contrast now seems to be helping prevent those thunderstorms from developing.

That said, signs point to tropical activity finally, unfortunately ramping up, perhaps as early as this weekend.  Disturbances coming off the African coast look like they might start drifting further south into the warm, humid air they need to develop.

Other factors also seem to be coming together in the tropical Atlantic to produce storms. So things might get busy after all. By Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center began watching two areas of interest. One stormy area, not far from Bermuda, isn't expected to amount to much. But another system in the middle of the tropical Atlantic. 

That said, there's still no guarantee that new tropical storms will form in the coming week or two. And if they do, it's far, far, far too early to know where they might form and where they'd go.  

If You Need A Small Dose Of Hope, Landmark Maui Banyan Tree, Damaged In Wildfire, Is Sprouting Leaves

New leaves are starting to sprout on a giant banyan tree
on Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. The huge tree was badly damaged
in an August wildfire that destroyed the town. All the leaves
on the trees had been burned off. 

When disaster get extreme, you always want to find some small glimmer of hope. 

Such is the case in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. The city was pretty much destroyed by an August wildfire, which killed at least 97 people. In the center of town is an enormous banyan tree, the largest in the United States. 

The tree was badly burned and scorched in the fire, losing all of its leaves. Many wonder whether it will survive. 

The Washington Post gives us that glimmer of hope: They report it is sprouting a few fresh green leaves. 

As WaPo reports:

"Volunteers have been working toward the banyan's recovery for weeks, carefully tending to its soil, monitoring it for sigs of growth and providing it with what they call 'tree-loving soup' Hawaii Magazine reported earlier this month". 

I guess if you're sick, chicken soup is the cure. If a banyan tree is badly damaged in a fire, it needs nourishing soup, too. The soup for the banyan tree is a concoction of nutrients landscape contractor Chris Imonti created to feed the huge, hurting tree. 

The banyan was planted in 1873 to mark the 50th anniversary old the first Protestant mission in Lahaina. 

I hope to see photos of this Maui treasure fully leafed out in the months ahead.  

Dora The Explorer: Recent Hurricane Had Incredible Journey

A recent hurricane was dubbed
"Dora The Explorer" for its
long trek through two
oceans. 

Hurricane Dora popped up in the news in a tragic way.

It, and a high pressure system far to its north, helped created the strong winds on Maui that led to those those horrible wildfires. The death toll is now a horrible 106 people, and could easily rise further. 

Far less importantly, but pretty interesting nonetheless is the incredibly long journey Dora and its earlier ingredients as a tropical disturbance took.  The storm had such a long journey that it was inevitable dubbed Dora the Explorer.   

Hurricane experts first noticed what would become Dora on July 17, just off the west coast of Africa.  It moved westward across the Atlantic, briefly almost becoming a tropical storm or at least tropical depression on July 22 before reaching the Central American coast around July 28.  

Upper level winds over the Atlantic Ocean prevented wannabe Dora from becoming a tropical storm. And, being over the Atlantic, had it become a tropical storm, it would have been named Emily.

Anyway, wannabe Dora crossed over the mountains of Central America and landed over the Pacific Ocean on July 29.  Conditions were far more conducive for development over the Pacific, so by August 1, Dora became a hurricane and began its long trek westward across the Pacific Ocean. 

Dora was a beast over the open Pacific Ocean, lasting at least four days as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph near its eye. 

Last Friday, Dora became only the second hurricane on record to survive a trip across the eastern, central and now western Pacific basin, as the Washington Post noted. 

The only other hurricane known to accomplish this feat was Hurricane John in 1994.  Most hurricanes sputter out in the central Pacific Ocean because the water is cooler there, the air is often drier, and wind shear that's common in that area usually tears hurricanes apart. 

One possible reason why Dora was so persistent was its construction.  Most hurricanes look like spirals.  Dora was known as an annular hurricane. That means on satellite photos it looked more like a doughnut than a spiral.

Annular hurricanes like Dora can fend off dry air intrusions and upper level winds that would otherwise rip a hurricane apart. 

On Friday, Dora crossed the International Date Line at 180 degrees longitude. That put it in the western Pacific basin. Since it was now on the Asian side of the Pacific, it forced a rename: It was now Typhoon Dora, not Hurricane Dora. 

Last we checked, Typhoon Dora was finally weakening into a tropical storm somewhere in the western Pacific Ocean. 

Hawaii Firestorm Kills Dozens; Drought, Hurricane, And Likely Climate Change Implicated

Wildfire destroying historic Front Steet in Lahaina, Maui,
Hawaii on Monday. Video still from Alan Dicker 

It was about as intense and sad a tragedy and disaster as you can get.

A huge wildfire raced into a historic town so quickly that many couldn't escape. A few that did escape had to jump into waterways to do it.  

Rows of buildings that stood for a century or more were razed.  Even the 911 system failed in the firestorm.  At least 55 people have died, others have been seriously injured. The death toll is expected to rise. 

This scenario is something you might unfortunately see in the western United States or Canada, or maybe Australia or Greece. But, as you probably heard on the news, the latest place to see this kind of wildfire tragedy is Hawaii.

The wildfire raced through parts of Maui, devastating what was the charming town of Lahaina.

What happened in Hawaii was a cruel combination of always-existing geography and wind patterns that were distorted by drought, a hurricane passing well to the south, and probably the usual suspect - climate change. 

We think of Hawaii as something of a tropical paradise, and it is. But there are distinct rainfall patterns. 

Winds over the Hawaiian islands usually blow from the east or northeast.  East facing slopes tend to collect the moisture, as the wind is forced to rise up the slopes of the mountains, wringing out the moisture. 

Then the winds blow down the slopes of the western slopes of the Hawaiian island mountains and volcanoes.  Descending air like that tends to dry out and warm up.  (Remember, if you have rising air, you're likely to get rain, sinking air tends to prevent rain).

Lahaina is on the far western end of Maui, so it is normally drier that points further east on the island. 

It's also the dry season.  This year, it's even more arid. The western half of Maui is in drought. While we certainly can't say climate change "caused" this drought, 

Next in the mix was Hurricane Dora. It's a powerful hurricane that had winds of up to 150 mph as it moved westward across the Pacific Ocean well to the south of the Hawaiian islands.  Though hurricanes have always passed south of Hawaii, or even near the islands from time to time, they're in general trending more common and stronger.

Hurricanes thrive on warm ocean water, the warmer the better, as far as hurricanes are concerned.  Ocean waters near Hawaii tend to be a little cooler than in many other parts of the Pacific.  That cooler water tends to weaken hurricanes.  But climate change has made those waters less cool, so hurricanes often don't weaken as readily.   

Hawaii was not directly affected Hurricane Dora, but it sped up the east winds over the islands.  High pressure north of Hawaii created also contributed to the strong winds. On Maui, those winds gained momentum as they blasted down the slopes of the mountains and created gusts of 60 mph or more in western Maui. 

Amid the dry conditions, new and existing small wildfires on the island became giant blowtorches, and one of them slammed into the Lahaina. 

It was chaos. Fallen utility poles blocked escape routes. The fire hopscotched from building to building seemingly instantaneously.  While Maui has had wildfires before, the island was not equipped for anything this big and this destructive.

The result was the tragedy on Maui.

Climate change did not "cause" this disaster. But it contributed to it and and made it worse. 

Despite the fact that this kind of catastrophe has never happened in Hawaii before, some people over the years worried it might. Like I said, this wasn't the first wildfire ever on Maui.  Many of the old buildings on Lahaina were made of wood, and packed close together.  That's a recipe for an urban firestorm. 

Winds have diminished somewhat on Maui, but fires are still raging. Other fires are also burning on the western side of the Big Island of Hawaii, but those are somewhat contained so far. 

A fire like this is unprecedented in Hawaii. As noted, this isn't the first wildfire ever in Hawaii. But it's by VERY far, the worst on record.  We continue to see tragedies and unhappy surprises egged on by climate change.