Hawaii to get lengthy blizzard with 30 inches of snow!

UPDATE 12/3/2016 4:30 PM (11:30 AM HT):

Mauna Kea looks to have had a foot or so of snow already -- it's hard to tell because it is drifting a lot. Here's the current webcam view from the Keck Observatory:

The mountains of Mauna Loa, and Mauna Kea Hawaii, are about to get pounded by a week-long snowstorm that will drop feet of snow! No, it's not unprecedented to get snow on the mountain tops (Mauna Loa is 13,678 feet high; Mauna Kea is 13,803), and December is one of the likely times to get it (the last big storm / blizzard for the Big Island I blogged about there was in December 2007 -- more on their climate below).

This weekend, though, over 30 inches of snow may fall, with high winds, blowing and drifting snow, and thundersnow! Here's the NWS total snowfall forecast, showing amounts of 27 and 28 inches on the peaks:

The Winter Storm Warning calls for "HEAVY SNOW... BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND FREEZING FOG. NEW ACCUMULATIONS OF 20 TO 30 INCHES TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY. " I would not be at all surprised to see that upgraded to a Blizzard Warning, which happened in 2007. Their text forecast adds up to a total of 22 to 32 inches, and mentions thunder and wind gusts to 47 mph and predicts snow every day for the next week!

COULD THIS BE MAUNA LOA'S BIGGEST SNOWFALL?

Official weather records of snow aren't kept there these days (as far as I can tell), so it's hard to say what the maximum winter storm total is... however, I haven't heard of more than a foot at a time there, so 30 inches would surely rank in their top storms. This image shows the ridiculous temperature range that the island will experience Saturday morning. Temperatures will fall into the 20s (with wind chills as low as 13 F on Mauna Loa by Monday), while Kino will be sitting pretty at 72 degrees Fahrenheit!

Some snow has already fallen on the peak webcams:

All said, the climate of Mauna Loa is quite strange. Their daily temperatures vary wildly but are consistent year-round. For the period 1961-1990, both their record high (85 F) and record low (18 F) were set in February. They usually get snow in December, February and April, but have seen it year-round, including July.

For the record, here is the official NWS text forecast for this week (wind chills for Sunday-Monday):

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