“Hydrate.”
That’s the message Kevin Kodama, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Honolulu, has for the Big Island moving into the weekend.
The heat wave that’s plagued the state for the last month will stick around indefinitely.
“I don’t expect it to go away any time soon,” Kodama said.
Today through Monday, the NWS is calling for mostly cloudy skies, with haze on the leeward side, scattered showers during the day and showers likely at night. Highs are forecast between 84 and 90, with lows 73 to 78.
The heat’s main driving factor is above-average ocean surface temperatures, which Kodama said will remain 1-2 degrees Celsius higher than normal, causing continued heat and high humidity.
After registering 12 record-setting high temperatures between June 28 and July 22, Hilo International Airport topped the gauges twice more over the past week.
On Monday, temperatures at the airport rose to 89 degrees, tying the 2003 record. Two days later, an 87-degree temperature tied the record set in 2007.
Thursday’s temperature reached 88, one degree shy of the 1986 record. Temps hit their peak July 12, when Hilo had a high of 90 degrees, breaking a previous record of 88 degrees set in 1965.
Kodama said he expects additional records to be reached or set in the coming days and weeks.
“The only thing that can change it a bit is if we get some cloud cover, some showers come by,” he said.
Asked about the number of record-high days over the last month, Kodama said it’s significant.
“The fact that it’s a record means something,” he said.
