2023 Pacific Hurricane forecast: "heightened risks for Mexico and Hawaii."

[TomK]

I'm having some difficulty relating the recent posts to hurricanes or tropical storms that directly impact Hawaii. In this case, there's a large difference in pressure between the high north of us and the low south of us. That generates winds flowing from high to low. But if you look at the isobars at lower levels, the gradient is higher over the northern islands compared to the Big Island, so of course winds are higher there.

You can show all the wind models and observations you can think of, but it's the pressure difference that drives the winds and Hilo is not in the middle of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea no matter how you twist things.

And yes, the Big Island mountains do affect winds and the weather, I don't believe anyone has said otherwise. It's why the Kona side is so dry.