The summit areas of Hawaii's Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, volcanos on Hawaii's Big Island, both topping 13,000 feet above sea level, are often snow covered during winter. In fact, it is possible to go to Hawaii and participate in both water skiing and snow skiing on the same day. Despite the regularity of high-altitude snow on these mountain peaks, weather that we would refer to as a blizzard is relatively rare.
However, this past Friday and Saturday, the same jet stream winds that brought snow to North Dakota and northern Minnesota was also over Hawaii, delivering heavy snow to the tops of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. The tall mountains actually protruded into the very strong upper level wind pattern, resulting in 100 mph winds at the mountain summits. Such fierce wind, along with heavy snow, resulted in Hawaii's first Blizzard Warning since 2018.
