I grew up on the East Coast of the United States near Boston, Massachusetts. Throughout childhood, I always yearned for the beautiful weather and warm ocean waters of Hawaii. Finally, after finishing an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, I moved to Honolulu Hawaii to study the weather and enjoy the Aloha Spirit of the islands.
Hawaii has warm and clean ocean waters, exciting waves for surfing, beautiful mountain waterfalls, and Waikiki for shopping and nightlife. Living in Hawaii has brought me a new understanding of nature, and how everything in life is interconnected. The Hawaiian culture teaches sharing, learning, and creating relationships; and I try to bring that `Aloha Spirit` with me everywhere I go.
I am a meteorologist at the US National Weather Service Hawaii Office. I work with a team of meteorologists to produce vital weather forecasts for Hawaii, and international aviation and marine weather warnings across the Pacific Ocean. On special occasions I have been dispatched to the US mainland to provide life-saving forecasts for fire fighters battling large wildfires. Summertime weather can bring dangerous typhoons, called hurricanes in the United States, close to Hawaii. The weather office becomes very busy with forecasting the storm and keeping people out of harm's way.
In 2015, I combined my weather forecasting expertise with my passion for the ocean and became a weather forecaster for the Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage. The Worldwide Voyage was made by a Polynesian voyaging canoe named the Hōkūleʻa. This style of sailing canoe was used by Polynesians for thousands of years to traverse the ocean from New Zealand to Hawaii. The Hōkūleʻa canoe left Hawaii in 2014, and sailed around the world over a 3-year period with the goal to grow the global movement toward a more sustainable world. My job for the Hōkūleʻa crew was to provide an accurate forecast of wind, weather, and swell so they could sail safely to the next port. I am very happy to say that I played a small role in the voyage, and everyone returned home safely.
It is said that Hawaii has the best weather in the world. Mild temperatures and cool winds called `trade winds` bring gentle showers to the northeast, or windward, part of the island. The southwest, or leeward side of the islands stay mostly dry and sunny and that is where you will the famous Waikiki Beach and many vacation resorts. Hawaii has many Japanese people living and working in the islands and Waikiki is very convenient for visitors as many people speak Japanese!
There are some problems with climate change and the rising sea levels. In Waikiki and across the islands, the beaches are shrinking every year as the sea level increases. The resorts and hotels have been working hard to keep the beaches in place through sand replacement and other methods.
Both Hawaii and Japan need to prepare for typhoons or hurricanes every year. Hawaii`s delicate ecosystem makes the islands very susceptible to hurricane rainfall, winds, waves, and beach erosion.
While most of Japan experiences the four seasons, Hawaii has only two noticeable seasons - the dry/warm season and the wet/cool season. The dry/warm season coincides with the summer months with high temperatures near 31 Celsius. The warm season remains quite pleasant, however, with trade winds keeping relative humidity low. The winter months in Hawaii remain enjoyable with high temperatures near 26 Celsius, but it can be a bit wetter with passing showers. After moving to Kanazawa last summer, I quickly learned the Japanese phrases ‘mushi-atsui` and `atsu-sugimasu` to describe the heat and humidity across Japan.
