For all the precision of modern timekeeping, high noon rarely happens at 12 p.m. sharp.

In fact, because Hawaii lies in the tropics, specifically just south of the Tropic of Cancer, it is the only state where the sun is ever straight up.

Even then, the sun reaches to top of the sky here only twice a year - so-called Lahaina Noon. But that doesn't necessarily happen at noon.

Last summer, for instance, Lahaina Noon occurred at 12:32 p.m. July 17 in Lahaina and Kahului. In Honolulu, it occurred at 12:37 p.m. on July 15.

Because time zones are hundreds of miles wide - and wider in the tropics than in northern latitudes - the sun cannot be overhead at noon at each locale across the zone. That's why Lahaina Noon is often closer to 1 p.m.