Humid enough for you?
The blanket of "vog" is not likely to clear today, weather forecasters say
A sticky combination of moist air and southeasterly winds covered Oahu with a blanket of "vog" yesterday.
The National Weather Service said the haze created by moisture combined with gases from the erupting Kilauea volcano on the Big Island is not likely to clear away today, even with expected rain.
The past four days of hot, humid weather stimulated a run on fans and air-conditioning units at Oahu stores.
National Weather Service forecaster Jonathan Hoag said the band of moisture over Kauai and Oahu came several hundred miles ahead of a cold front.
"The cold front isn't expected to reach the islands. It is stalling about 300 miles northwest of the state. It is not a large system at all," Hoag said.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
These folks beat the heat and humidity yesterday with an outing at the beach in Waikiki.
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Forecasters posted a flash-flood warning for Windward Oahu and the North Shore at 2 p.m. yesterday but lifted the warning within two hours. Kauai experienced brief heavy rainfall and isolated thunderstorms in the morning.
Oahu Civil Defense spokesman John Cumming said there were no reports of flooding on Oahu.
The Home Depot store in Iwilei sold out of some models of air-conditioning units and portable fans over the past week, said store manager Brian Zinn. "We had a push on air-conditioning units. We brought AC units and fans to the front of the store, and they're almost cleared out. Fan sales are normally highlighted in August and September, and the trend continued this month."
Larry Lanning, marketing director of Hardware Hawaii, said, "Fans are moving out of here pretty fast, also room-size air conditioners. The floor fans are moving fastest. It's later than usual; most sales are in summer. Fortunately we still have a good stock."
Hoag said temperatures have been in the high 80s but did not set records, and "the humidity levels were not excessively high."
Tradewinds from the north-northeast, which usually make the heat and humidity bearable, will return later this week, especially over the Big Island, Hoag said.
"The general wind flow will continue to be light from the southeast," he said. "That trajectory brings vog over the islands northwest of the Big Island. I don't see a change in that situation soon."
Vog is formed when sulfur dioxide emitted from the volcano reacts with sunlight, oxygen, dust particles and water in the air to form tiny droplets known as sulfate aerosols, sulfuric acid and other substances.