Lahaina Noon This Week

If you’re In Hawaii over the next 10 days, you may see people gathering around poles and fences mid-day.

Come and join us. We’re celebrating a unique solar condition that prevails twice each year.

It’s called Lahaina Noon when the sun is directly overhead, and is casting no shadow on vertical objects (like telephone and flag poles). This “shawdowless noon,” only occurs in the tropics.

Here are the dates and times for this month’s Lahaina Noon, which varies from island to island:

Lihue, Kauai – July 11, 12:42pm

Honolulu, Oahu – July 15, 12:37pm

Lahaina/Kahului, Maui – July 17, 12:32pm

Kaunakakai, Molokai – July 17, 12:34pm

Hana, Maui – July 18, 12:30pm

Lanai City, Lanai – July 18, 12:33pm

Hilo, Hawaii – July 23, 12:26pm

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – July 24, 12:30pm

Trivia: Back in 1989, The Bishop Museum ran a contest to name this solar event. Lahaina Noon was the front runner. The words Lā and Haina are translated as “cruel sun.”