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In HNL area visting family, holy crap it is hot and muggy. In-laws say the trade winds have been sparse all summer. I forgot what 85 degrees in the house feels like when I'm trying to sleep. Place is still beautiful as ever and fortunate to have a south swell while I'm here but air conditioning in my "mainland" house has spoiled me. LOL.
To prospective transplants, unless you are gonna live upcountry... get a window unit!! Don't believe the hype, you will want some option to cool your bedroom at least out here. haha
To prospective transplants, unless you are gonna live upcountry... get a window unit!! Don't believe the hype, you will want some option to cool your bedroom at least out here. haha
Here on Oahu - I think the funnier posts I read are 1) Most people don't have AC (most do, and it is necessary for much of the year) and 2) You can get by on trade winds (most people can't even if they are blowing since most condos face the ocean away from the trade winds).
Your choices are to be uncomfortable or get AC and a good nights sleep.
Here on Oahu - I think the funnier posts I read are 1) Most people don't have AC (most do, and it is necessary for much of the year) and 2) You can get by on trade winds (most people can't even if they are blowing since most condos face the ocean away from the trade winds).
Your choices are to be uncomfortable or get AC and a good nights sleep.
Whats even funnier is in the past tradewinds were strong and steady, couldn't live without AC still, but you could cut a bill down alot by finding an aprtment that the tradewinds or a good breeze flowed thru it.
Alot of speculation as to why the tradewinds are dying. Could it be we didn't care for the aina as we should of and this is the results and i imagine with skyscrapers building up higher and higher that its becoming more difficult to find any type of breeze etc.
Here on Oahu - I think the funnier posts I read are 1) Most people don't have AC (most do, and it is necessary for much of the year) and 2) You can get by on trade winds (most people can't even if they are blowing since most condos face the ocean away from the trade winds).
Your choices are to be uncomfortable or get AC and a good nights sleep.
Thats interesting that most people have AC in your experience, I would say exactly the opposite in my experience... most don't but wish they did. Of course I lived in town where the houses and apartments are older. We finally broke down and bought a window unit for the bedroom a year before we left. My in-laws don't have it and most of the old plantation style houses I see don't either.
Newer condos and renovated houses certainly do seem to though. I agree though, folks that say locals don't want/need AC are full of it. I don't know anyone out here that wouldn't love to have AC in their house.
Whats even funnier is in the past tradewinds were strong and steady, couldn't live without AC still, but you could cut a bill down alot by finding an aprtment that the tradewinds or a good breeze flowed thru it.
Alot of speculation as to why the tradewinds are dying. Could it be we didn't care for the aina as we should of and this is the results and i imagine with skyscrapers building up higher and higher that its becoming more difficult to find any type of breeze etc.
Tradewinds are the result of a semi-permenant subtropical high pressure area in the east/central pacific, the islands themselves have nothing to do with the tradewinds, they just get in the way of them. Climate change could certainly be impacting the frequency of tradewind days, or they could have natural variability and the 70's and 80's were just unusually frequent. We really don't know. But studies at UH have shown that they have been on the decline over the last couple of decades.
I have always contended that Hawaii has perfect weather for 2 things... the beach and going out at night. The sun is too strong and it is just too hot during the day to want to do much outside of surfing etc... I'd take San Diego weather of HNL weather in a heartbeat. That said, it is still pretty nice out here most of the time and better than 95% of the rest of the country so can't complain too much.
Alot of speculation as to why the tradewinds are dying. Could it be we didn't care for the aina as we should of and this is the results and i imagine with skyscrapers building up higher and higher that its becoming more difficult to find any type of breeze etc.
The tradewinds are blowing as much as they always have. It's just that modern buildings and construction techniques are not conducive to living in the absence of AC. Older homes had more lax rules for construction that would allow for better cross ventilation. You could have larger window openings that ran closer to the floor. You could have jalousie windows that ran from the ceiling to the floor in elevated post and pier construction homes. You could have longer eave projections to help shade the home. Nowadays, the city is run by inept planners that don't consider natural ventilation as a critical part of intelligent and sustainable design. For example, the maximum a roof can overhang into a setback is 30" Back in the day you could go up to 48". That 18" overhang difference (particularly on the east/west/south side of a home) would cut the heat coming into the home dramatically. Windows cannot go to the floor if the home is more than 24" over grade, etc etc. Building codes that are adopted in the mainland (where homes in colder climates need to be better insulated) are passed on into tropical hot climates and we suffer as a result.
There are a lot more people living in condos these days. Particularly new very poorly designed condos. All new condos are built with windows facing makai. That means they face south (the HOT side of the building)... These new condos don't have lanais like they did in the old days which would set back the windows under the lanai above (thus shading the windows) but instead are built with "window wall" or "curtain wall" systems that push the windows flush to the building - there is NO shade on these windows throughout the entire day and no awnings to shade them. And more often than not, these windows run floor to ceiling because heck, views of the ocean and other buildings is more important than living in less than 95 degree heat This basically means all new condos are 400 ft tall ovens. You can't live in any new condo project comfortably unless you spend $300/mo on air conditioning.
Then to make things worse (this affects units facing mauka), in the old days condos were built with windows on BOTH sides of the units. Meaning you would have the elevator access an open hallway with windows up high for ventilation in the units. Your front door could be opened and a great breeze would blow through the entire condo unit. Now ALL condos are built with entry door corridors in the CENTER of the building and units are located on both sides of the building. Therefore there is ZERO cross ventilation in these buildings. Even if you opened all your windows, no breeze would come through because there is no pressure differential... the wind simply doesn't even enter the condo even with windows open. Condo developers of course don't care if you need to spend $300/mo on electricity just to not sit in a pool of your own sweat. And what is $300 when the maintenance fee is already $1,000/mo
The weather hasn't changed one bit. What has changed is there is a heck lot more concrete on our aina than when you previously lived here... and poorly designed buildings that require AC to be livable have sprouted up left and right while you've been gone. It's a sad state of affairs when people invest ridiculous sums of money in these monstrosities just so they can spend $$$ on electricity to stay sane. Developers need to provide more sustainable options. Until then, I shake my head when I see these delusional people move into their hot boxes. I hope they saved up enough to pay for that $500/mo electricity bill in the near future.
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