Weather Blogs

April 2012 was the globe's 5th warmest April on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). April 2012 global land temperatures were the 2nd warmest on record, and the Northern Hemisphere land surface temperatures were the warmest since records began in 1880. Global ocean temperatures were the 11th warmest on record. April 2012 was the 427th consecutive month with ocean temperatures warmer than the 20th century average.

A team of scientists from the University of Hawai’i’-Manoa Geography Department has recently published a rainfall atlas to the state and may have discovered a new ‘wettest spot’ in the islands and thus for the entire United States. In 1992 they set up a rain gauge at a location known as the ‘Big Bog’ on the edge of Haleakala National Park on Maui Island. They had originally estimated the rainfall at this site to be on the order of 180” per annum, but the second year of data (1994) saw an amazing 560” of precipitation fall (176" more than Mt. Waialeale). The 30-year (1978-2007) average annual rainfall was 404" at Big Bog (estimated from 1992-2007 data) vs. 393" at Mt. Waialeale."