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BROKEN?: Maui weather-watchers are concerned that the official thermometer used for 10-day forecasts is broken when predicting lows.
Amateur weather-watchers on Maui are voicing concern that the official thermometer used to deliver 10-day forecasts is broken when it comes to predicting the expected low temperature each day.
For the past 10 days, Maui weather forecasts seen in places like the Weather Channel have listed either 65 degrees or 66 degrees as the coming low temp.
"We're beginning to get very worried that we'll be stuck on the same low forever," said amateur meteorologist Maurie Nature, of Haiku. "It's something to watch, because if the low is still 65 in summer months, something weird is going on."
Joanna Stevenson of Paia has a collection of gizmos in her home to predict upcoming weather in a variety of ways, and she noticed the same lows over and over, too.
"Not sure I've ever seen anything like it," Stevenson said. "I mean, can't we get a 64 or 67 in there somewhere, just to break things up?"
Official Central Pacific weather forecasters say not to worry: monotonously nearly identical temperatures day after day are pretty routing on the Valley Isle.
"It's interesting that during a time when much of the mainland United States is enduring a record freeze, we have a group of weather nerds here on Maui who are worried our lowest temperatures may never get higher or lower than 65 or 66 degrees," said Maurie Gorains, a meteorologist with the Central Pacific Weather Beacon based in Kihei.
Gorains said amateur weather-watchers call often with their theories why predicted highs or lows seem to get "stuck."
"Last week we had a guy from Hana call and say he blames inflation for all the days with the same 83-degree high," Gorains said. "Last year we took more than one call from people who blamed Trump for all the high anticipated temperatures."
Meanwhile, a manager at Walmart in Kahului said she has not noticed an uptick in the sales of pants or hoodies with the lows in the mid-60s forecast. "It's been clear and pretty warm for a while now. I have no clue why anyone would ask whether sales of pants or hoodies are up due to the weather. It's Hawaii, duh."
