Snow coats the summit and roadways of Haleakala at about 6 a.m. Friday morning. A Thursday afternoon snowfall and an overnight winter storm blanketed the summit early Friday, marking a rare third year in a row of snow atop Haleakala. MIKE MABERRY photo
A Thursday afternoon snowfall and an overnight winter storm blanketed the top of Haleakala on Friday morning, marking a rare third year in a row that the summit has seen snow.
While not quite at the level of last year’s storm that encased equipment in ice and forced the closure of the park for nearly a week, the light snowfall was still a pleasant surprise to summit visitors.
“In all the nine years I’ve worked for this company, this is the first time I’ve ever been up there and it snowed like that,” said Jeremy Akana, a guide with Hike Maui. “I got pretty lucky.”
Akana had taken a group of visitors up to the crater on Thursday afternoon, but with the whipping winds and icy temperatures, they weren’t planning on walking around too much. However, the hikers were game to head down the Keonehe’ehe’e (Sliding Sands) Trail for about a mile. On the way back up, they started to get “pelted in the face with hail.”
“It happened for about a minute, and all of a sudden it softened,” Akana said. “We were all like looking down because we didn’t want the hail hitting us in the face, and all of a sudden I was staring at my jacket, and I was like, wait a minute, it’s not bouncing anymore. It’s floating.”
Everyone looked up and realized it was snowing. Akana pulled out his phone and shot a video of the flurries for his girlfriend, Christina Fontana, at about 3:15 p.m.
“Welcome to Maui,” he told his tour group.
Akana said it snowed for about 20 to 30 minutes as they trekked back up the hill, though it wasn’t really coating the ground. They left at around 4 p.m.
As of Thursday night, the summits of Haleakala, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa were all under a winter storm warning, with predictions for a mix of snow and freezing rain on Haleakala and potentially icy roadways.
A photo at 6 a.m. Friday showed snow coating the summit and roadways, though it had melted somewhat by late morning.
“We have no official measurements, but the ranger did report a couple inches of slush for the last quarter mile of the road,” said Vanessa Almanza, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, on Friday.
Jin Prugsawan, Haleakala National Park spokeswoman, said that the road to the summit closed briefly between the Haleakala Visitor Center at 9,740 feet and the summit at 10,023 feet but had reopened before 12:30 p.m.
Prugsawan did not provide information on the amount of snow and current conditions at the summit.
While the winter storm warning had been lifted by Friday morning, Almanza said that strong northerly winds and low temperatures would continue to be in the forecast. Winds of 10 to 35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph are expected tonight at the summit. Chances of precipitation are 20 percent today, increasing to 50 percent Monday.
Snowfall on Haleakala in consecutive years is a rarity, usually occurring every few years or so. An inch-and-a-half of snow fell on Presidents Day weekend in February 2018, and conditions were clear and sunny enough that people could enter the park to see the snow.
However, a much heavier snowfall and icy conditions in February 2019 closed down the park for nearly a week; luckily, the snow was still around for residents and visitors to enjoy when the park reopened over Presidents Day weekend.
“Last year was a really special event. We had that really strong kona low come really close to the island that produced snow for Haleakala,” Almanza said. “This year it’s kind of a similar story. There’s a low about 500 miles to the northeast of Kauai, so we’re seeing unusually low temperatures on the islands right now.”
Almanza explained that a kona low is a subtropical low pressure system that provides most of the rain for the leeward areas.
“Generally, we have low pressure like this that affects the island like two to three times a year,” Almanza said. “It’s a winter months thing.”
While Haleakala got snow, the rest of the island experienced driving downpours that dumped 8.02 inches of rain at Hana Airport over a 24-hour period ending at 1 p.m. Friday. The West Wailuaiki gauge in East Maui recorded 5.25 inches, while Wailuku saw 2.17 inches and Pukalani got 2.02 inches.
* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.
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