Regarding Hurricane Lane

With apologies, last week’s blog postings were temporarily halted due to closures related to our preparations for Hurricane Lane. Our servers were shut down for four days as we prepared for an incoming category 5 hurricane. The storm drenched parts of our state with an estimated 3-4 feet of rainfall.  The National Weather Service reported that the rain associated with Hurricane Lane produced the “third highest storm total rainfall from a tropical cyclone in the United States since 1950.” We are back on schedule this week and we thank you for your patience!

Coincidentally, about 147 years ago, another hurricane struck our archipelago in August. In 1871, a hurricane blasted Hawaiʻi island and Maui. By analyzing meteorological observations reported in contemporary Hawaiian language newspapers, modern-day scientists were able to determine that a category 3 hurricane struck both islands. See Steven Businger, M. Puakea Nogelmeier, Pauline W.U. Chinn, & Thomas Schroder, Hurricane with a History: Hawaiian Newspapers Illuminate an 1871 Storm (2017). The article illustrates the value of Hawaiian-language materials as resources for modern day researchers and scientists.

“Artist’s rendering of the destruction and mayhem visited on a Hawaiian compound during the Hawaii hurricane of 1871.” See Steven Businger, M. Puakea Nogelmeier, Pauline W.U. Chinn, and Thomas Schroeder, Hurricane with a History: Hawaiian Newspapers Illuminate an 1871 Storm (available at: https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0333.1).