Snow likely to stay at summits, roads reopen
This image from a webcam at the W.M. Keck Observatory on top of Mauna Kea this morning shows a blanket of snow on the ground.
After the ice melts from the lens cover, the web camera at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility reveals snow on the ground and sunny skies at the summit of Mauna Kea this morning.
A Keck Observatory summit crew puts snow chains on their cars on the road to the summit Tuesday. Soon aftewards, they and crews from other observatories were ordered to evacuate the summit as winter storm conditions deteriorated.
This webcamera image from the University of Hawaii Hilo telescope shows snow on the ground on Mauna Kea this morning.
A snow-covered Mauna Kea is visible from the NOAA Observatory on Mauna Loa.
This image from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea shows snow on Manua Loa to the south.
Snow on the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa will likely last into next week, National Weather Service forecasters predict.
Several inches of snow have fallen since Saturday. Webcameras atop both summits show a blanket of snow on the ground.
“It’s winter time,” said Derek Wroe, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. “Temperatures are colder than normal, but not unusual for this time of year.”
The weather service lifted winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories Wednesday morning.
Park rangers opened the road to the summit of Mauna Kea after ice that accumulated overnight melted.
Wroe noted that fog and below-freezing conditions could return later today.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
A weather system that brought the snow to the mountain tops has moved away and weakened. But is still bringing temperatures in the 20s at night and near freezing during the day at the summits.
Another weather system in the upper atmosphere is moving in from the west. That system may bring rain to Kauai and Oahu starting Friday and will likely keep temperatures on the mountain tops below or near freezing into next week, Wroe said.
