How hot has it been in Hawaii?

Even the state’s climatologist, a University of Hawaii-Manoa meteorologist who has lived in the islands for 30 years without air conditioning, has an appointment next week to get an estimate for having an air-conditioning unit installed in his house.

"But they said they can’t install it until the end of October or maybe December," said Pao-Shin Chu, a professor in UH’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

Turns out the air conditioning may still be needed by then, as strong El Nino conditions make it likely that muggy and hotter-than-normal temperatures will continue.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday that El Nino conditions are likely to persist through the winter before weakening in spring.

In Hawaii, El Nino results in fewer tradewinds and warmer sea surface temperatures, which conspire to elevate humidity and create hotter weather, among other things.

Chu said he expects the humidity to back off by November or December, but the warm temperatures should persist as an El Nino drought takes hold in the winter.

With dozens of record-breaking temperatures recorded in Hawaii this summer and no end in sight, residents are scrambling to escape the heat like never before.

Stores report they’re having trouble keeping up with demand. At Best Buy in Honolulu, for example, no fans or air-conditioning units were in stock Thursday, and they remain on back order.

Hawaii’s air-conditioning industry, meanwhile, is swamped.

Ronnie Augustin, controller of Cosco Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, said the phones are ringing off the hook and that manufacturers and suppliers are having trouble filling customer orders.

So far, he said, demand this year has exceeded projections by 50 percent for the wholesaler and distributor, which has served Hawaii for more than 50 years. In August, which was an exceptionally hot and humid month, demand reached 160 percent over projections.

"It’s too busy," Augustin said.

With the rise in temperatures, the state Department of Education has come under increasing pressure from parents to cool down classrooms.

Fewer than 10 percent of Hawaii’s public schools have campuswide central air conditioning, and the department is moving to buy some portable air conditioners and fans.

The DOE recently requested an exemption to state procurement rules to make an emergency purchase of up to 250 portable air conditioning units to place in high-priority classrooms for heat relief, the department said in a news release.

While parents demonstrated outside DOE headquarters Thursday to demand even more action on cooling classrooms, the department announced it was teaming up with Hawaii 3R’s, a local nonprofit organization, in another step in that direction.

Under the agreement, Hawaii 3R’s will accept monetary donations to reimburse schools who purchase fans and other heat-relief items. For more information visit hawaii3rs.com/ cool-schools-2015.

In the meantime several community efforts have been launched to help bring down classroom temperatures.

At Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, Lynn Robinson-Onderko and others have organized the Be Cool 4 Campbell Fan Drive for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Robinson-Onderko said she organized the event after her son, ninth-grader Eli Onderko, mentioned that teachers said they could use more fans.

"They naysayers say it’s a Band-Aid," she said. "It certainly is a Band-Aid. But the teachers say it will help."

She said the goal is to collect 100 fans, a number that will help ensure there are at least two fans in each classroom. For more information go to rainbowfamily808.com.

Another fan drive, this time for Pearl City High School, will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the following Saturday at the same time in the Foodland parking lot at Pearl City Shopping Center, 850 Kamehameha Highway.

Organizers Jaci Agustin and Eric Ching are hoping to collect 251 new pedestal fans for Pearl City High, which has 115 classrooms but only three with air conditioning.

They said the fans would help as a temporary solution until air conditioning is installed.

At Kalaheo High School in Kailua, RevoluSun has donated an off-grid, solar-powered air-conditioning system with battery storage that will cool a 500-square-foot classroom, said state Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kailua-Kaneohe).