It was warm, warm, warm in East Hawaii Sunday as another record high temperature was set at Hilo.
The 87 degrees recorded at Hilo’s airport was two degrees higher than the previous high for April 14. The old record for that date was in 1979.
The temperature fell two degrees short of the highest ever recorded there in the month of April.
The all-time record high at Hilo’s airport was 94 degrees, set in May 1966.
Peter Donaldson, a forecaster at the National Weather Service’s Honolulu office, said the warm weather is the result of a switch in winds.
He said the northeasterly trades that usually grace the windward side of the Big Island have sometimes been replaced with southwesterlies.
“We’re getting winds in Hilo you would usually expect to get in Kona,” he said.
The record warm weather is continuing a recent trend statewide in April as record highs of 88 degrees were tied last week in Kahului, Maui, on April 12 and April 11.
A record high of 84 degrees was also set in Hilo on April 7.
The warm temperature follows a cool spell at the beginning of the month, when cool northerly breezes brought the overnight low at the Hilo airport down to 58 degrees on April 2.
That was not only the lowest temperature for that date but also tied the record low for the month of April at the airport.
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