See Lahaina
Noon tomorrowWhere to view
The sun will be directly overhead in the islands starting tomorrow on Kauai -- an event known as Lahaina Noon, when tall, straight things such as flagpoles cast no shadows.
Hawaii is the only state to experience the phenomenon.
The general belief is not true that "the sun is always overhead at noon," according to the Bishop Museum Planetarium.
The sun is never overhead in temperate and arctic zones, just in the tropics -- the region from 23.5 degrees north latitude to 23.5 degrees south, the planetarium reported.
Lahaina Noon occurs two days a year in the eight major Hawaiian islands and other locations in the tropics, and only once a year on the edge of the tropics, near the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.
The first Lahaina Noons occurred in the islands in May. They do not happen exactly at noon, but at "local time," when the sun is at its highest for a specific location.
The event got its name in a contest held by the museum about 12 years ago, since there was no term for "that day when the sun is exactly overhead at local noon." Lahaina means "cruel sun" in Hawaiian.
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Where to view
upcoming Lahaina noonsThe first Lahaina Noon this month will be at 12:43 p.m. tomorrow in Lihue. The last will be at 12:30 p.m. July 24 in Kailua-Kona.
On Thursday it will be at 12:37 p.m. in Honolulu and Kaneohe.
Other dates and locations are:
>> Kaunakakai, Molokai: 12:34 p.m. next Saturday.>> Lanai City: 12:34 p.m. July 18.
>> Lahaina: 12:33 p.m. July 18.
>> Kahului: 12:32 p.m. July 18.
>> Hana, Maui: 12:30 p.m. July 18.
>> Hilo: 12:27 p.m. July 24.