i'm planning my family's vacation and the only time we all have free is mid- to late-august. we think we want to go to hawai'i (leaning toward maui since we've only got 1 wk.) but i know nothing about the hurricane season. will we run into trouble that late in the year??

Hurricaine season in Hawaii officially runs from July to early December. The season is nothing at all like the Gulf/Caribbean/East Coast area. Hurricaines occur frequently in the Pacific, but rarely affect Hawaii. There have been just a half-dozen of so that have directly impacted Hawaii over the past 40 years.

In short...hurricaines are like shark attacks in Hawaii, a rarity.

hope this helps!

Yes--but when hurricanes do hit Hawaii they are something else. I've never experienced a Hawaiian hurricane myself, but I have friends who lived through one them--barely. Their stories (plus a few documentaries on the Discovery Channel, et al.) have convinced me to NEVER get close to any of the Hawaiian islands during hurricane season. I guess I like to stay alive!

For true weather afficcionadoes, see
http://lumahai.soest.hawaii.edu/index.ht
the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology site. Go beyond the disclaimer and click on the live satellite images. Email a meteorologist and have your questions answered.

By the way, most of us managed to escape unscathed both Iwa and Iniki, the only hurricanes to hit Hawaii in 20 years! Of course, Kauai was badly hit last, and our hearts went out to them. Even so, we are mostly talking property damage. Kauai has come back, though, and you should not be deterred from visiting that lovely island. The statistical odds of a mid to late august hurricane are small indeed.

Aloha!

One good thing about hurricanes, unlike tornadoes, is that you know they are coming and can leave. So I wouldn't worry about it given that they are rare in Hawaii. I am not a Hawaii expert by any means (many years since my one trip there), but I live in North Carolina, which has more than its share of hurricanes.