Is the Hawaii snow blizzard a sign of the end of the world?
Current Events
Yes, over the weekend the world was shocked when a Hawaii snow blizzard warning popped up on cell phones from sea to shining sea. A freak storm was reportedly headed for the Big Island, packing 12 inches of snow and unprecedented 100 MPH winds. According to the National Weather Service, travel to the area was expected to be “very difficult to impossible.”
“Blowing snow will significantly reduce visibility at times, with periods of zero visibility,” the agency said.
Almost immediately, social media went bonkers with thoughts of Waikiki Beach covered in 12 inches of snow, surfers beached due to frozen patches of water, and Hawaiian huts being blown to bits by 100 MPH winds.
Additionally, Christians connected the freak Hawaii snow blizzard and the ongoing global COVID plague as a sign of the end of the world and proof that Jesus was coming back soon.
However, meteorologists and longtime residents of the Big Island were quick to poo-poo any theory suggesting that the Hawaii snow blizzard was a freak occurrence.
“Guys. Guys. Calm down,” one woman wrote on Twitter. “I was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. We get snow on the top of Mauna Kea almost every winter.”
“Bear in mind, there is no one who lives up there,” said Maureen Ballard, a Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu. “We do get snow there pretty much every year.”
Despite Hawaii being a known tropical paradise, its mountainous regions, including Mauna Kea (Hawaii’s tallest peak at 13,803 feet” and Mauna Loa (the second-tallest at 13,679 feet) regularly see snow above 11,000 feet. At this elevation, it should come as no surprise that no one lives that high up. In fact, these mountainous regions are only home to space observatories.
Further, the Big Island of Hawaii is not the same as Honolulu and the famed tourist attraction of Waikiki.
So, blizzard conditions and high winds 11,000 feet up in the mountains are a far cry from Waikiki Beach being blanketed by 12 inches of snow.
Still, for a few short hours on Friday night, the world was convinced that it was coming to an end.
NPR: Across the U.S., the weather is simply weird: The highest peaks of Hawaii spent the weekend under a blizzard warning, while record rainfall drenched the Pacific Northwest, unseasonably warm temperatures stretched across the Midwest and South, and a major snow drought in the Rockies means Denver has still not seen its first snowfall of the season. The blizzard warning in Hawaii was first issued Thursday and remains in effect until early Sunday. Chances of snow were expected to peak Saturday afternoon then again Monday, according to a forecast by the Mauna Kea Weather Center. The warning was prompted by the development of a large storm system off the coast of Hawaii, which has since stalled over the Big Island, “allowing extensive fog, ice and snow to plague the summit,” the weather center wrote. As of 3pm EST, only two states in the U.S. have a winter weather product issued… Read more »