Hawaii battered by 191mph gusts, 40ft waves in rare winter snow storm (VIDEOS)
The island state of Hawaii has been battered by an “unprecedented” weather event which has brought 191-mph gusts, snow storms, waves as high as 40 feet (12.19 meters), widespread power outages, and at least one fatality.
The low pressure system began hammering the islands on Friday, with damaging winds combining with already choppy seas to create massive waves and, in turn, coastal flooding. A 66-year-old man died in the rough surf off Maui on Friday.
Storm Update 7pm HST: A historic low pressure system impacting #Hawaii with strong gusty winds, rain squalls and high surf will slowly drift NE of the state over the next 2 days. Strong winds will continue overnight. Stay safe tonight. #hiwx
— NWSHonolulu (@NWSHonolulu) February 11, 2019
“[Forecasters] are calling this an unprecedented event and we concur that we rarely if ever have seen the combination of record high on-shore waves, coupled with gale force winds,” said Sam Lemmo, administrator of Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Several inches of snow fell on Haleakalā, a shield volcano in East Maui, which many stunned locals captured on eyewitness video.
Maui’s Polipoli State Park, at an elevation of just 6,200 feet, was rendered an arctic snowscape by the unusually low temperatures.
“[P]erhaps [for] the first time ever, snow has fallen in a Hawai’i State Park,” Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources posted to its Facebook page Sunday. “Polipoli State Park on Maui is blanketed with snow. It could also be the lowest elevation snow ever recorded in the state.”
Some commenters got a little carried away with the snow hype, however.
Oh, my God. Snow has fallen on #Maui for the first time in history.
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) February 11, 2019
According to this 1962 issue of Weatherwise, the lowest known snow on Haleakala (Maui Island) was 7,500' in 1952. Yesterday, snow was observed as low as 6,200'. H/T @firebomb56pic.twitter.com/bjKf7sReLi
— Brian Brettschneider (@Climatologist49) February 11, 2019
Wave heights approached 40 feet (12.19 meters) in certain areas of the Hawaiian coastline, which unfortunately proved fatal for one California surfer.
“The sea state kind of looks like the water in a washing machine,” said Jon Jelsema, senior forecaster at the Weather Service office in Honolulu as cited by ADN.com. “You have a mix of swell – which is generated in many different areas of the Pacific – combining with wind waves. One wave follows the next at pretty big intervals.”
READ MORE: Snowed-in Russian driver rescued by CAMEL in hilarious road VIDEO
Over the weekend, 27,000 Maui Electric customers were temporarily left without power as the storm wreaked havoc on the grid.
Sailboats were also blown ashore and displaced within various harbors across the Aloha State. The 27-foot sailboat pictured below broke free from its mooring at Lahaina Small Boat Harbor.
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