How Rare Is Snow in Hawaii? What Records Show

A video shared on social media shows a Hawaii summit covered in snow after a winter storm rolled through the Aloha State on Monday and Newsweek spoke to a meteorologist about how often it snows in Hawaii.
October is the start of Hawaii’s wet season, which runs through April. On Monday morning, meteorologists issued a winter weather advisory for the Big Island. According to the forecast, “deep moisture will continue to move over the area today, leading to periods of rain and snow on the high summits.”
It is not uncommon for snow to fall on Hawaii’s volcanic peaks given their altitude, and even blizzard warnings have been issued in Hawaii during the winter months. At times, advanced skiers travel to Hawaii to ski the volcanic slopes, although there are no ski resorts in the state.
At nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, the Mauna Kea volcano is the tallest peak in Hawaii. It is the world’s tallest mountain when measured base to peak, as its base extends nearly 20,000 feet below sea level.
National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Derek Wroe told Newsweek that prior to the winter storm this weekend, the last time the NWS issued a winter weather advisory for Mauna Kea was May 11. Other than occasional dates that match up with winter storms, Wroe said there are no official records for snowfall amounts at Mauna Kea’s summit. Mauna Kea Observatories, a group of astronomical research facilities, are located there, and they maintain the roads and provide a general estimate.
However, Wroe said it’s not uncommon for Mauna Kea to see snowfall several times a year, particularly during Hawaii’s wet season.
The volcano is so high that it occasionally experiences snowfall during the summer months as well.
Lower elevation areas of Hawaii never see snow, Wroe said. Snow is also rare for some of the higher peaks as well. For example, on Maui, Haleakala is around 10,000 feet, and Wroe said it’s much less common to see snow there.
“Once you get down to 9,000 or 10,000 feet, they might see snow once or twice a winter,” Wroe said. “Below that it’s very rare. It’s a high-elevation phenomenon here.”
The recent storm produced enough precipitation to dust the peaks of Mauna Kea in snow, and AccuWeather shared a video depicting the “winter wonderland” on X, formerly Twitter.
“It’s a winter wonderland in…Hawaii?” AccuWeather posted with the video, which showed blustery winter conditions atop Mauna Kea.
Several inches of snow fell on the summit, enough to prompt meteorologists to issue a warning against traveling the peaks, as visibility was reduced and travel was difficult.
The storm was also bringing excessive rain to the rest of Hawaii, with lower elevation areas under a flood watch. Around 4 inches of rain fell in some of the hardest-hit areas.
By Tuesday morning, the storm had passed. The only weather advisory in place was a small craft advisory for some of the waters bordering the islands.
The small craft advisory will remain in place until Wednesday morning.
“Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions,” the advisory said.
Winter weather plagued other parts of the U.S. on Tuesday, with Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota under a winter storm warning. A winter weather advisory was in place across Utah and Colorado.