This week, the summit of Maunakea, Hawaii’s nearly 14,000-foot volcano that looms over the Big Island, was coated in fresh snow. In November. Before traditionally snow-blanketed cities like Denver and Boston.
Rangers from the Center for Maunakea Stewardship reported ice, snow, and everything else that makes winter conditions unsafe for driving, prompting the shutdown of the access road above the Visitor Information Station. A winter weather advisory remains in place through Thursday, along with a forecast of more snow, and a huge bummer for tourists hoping to catch a gorgeous Hawaiian sunset.
It’s not shocking to see one of Hawaii’s tallest peaks blanketed in snow. Maunakea and Mauna Loa get a dusting most winters. What is shocking is that it happened before snowy hotspots back on the mainland got their first snow of the season. For the first time in the city’s recorded history, the back half of November has arrived without as much as a single snowflake falling on Denver, which usually gets measurable snow by October 18.
If this continues up to December 10, it will officially be the latest snowfall in Denver’s recorded history.
As for Boston, there’s still some time left. It’s typical for the first snow to touch ground around November 29, but that clock is ticking.
As for why all this is happening, well, it’s a common refrain these days, unfortunately: climate change is doing a number on our traditional ideas of when seasons begin and end. Winter in the northern US is beginning later, leaving earlier. So while Hawaii gets an early winter wonderland at the top of a volcano, the rest of us are left watching the slow slide toward a future where winter arrives late and leaves early, and usually entirely unannounced.
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