HONOLULU (KHON2) — As Milton continues across Florida’s peninsula, KHON2 wanted to know how Hawaii’s hurricanes differ from those that originate in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.
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KHON2 spoke to experts as well as former Hawaii residents that are feeling Milton’s first impacts.
An associate professor of atmospheric pressure at the University of Hawaii at Manoa said the main difference between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean is surface temperatures.
“They provide the energy that gets a storm going. So if you have warm sea surface temperatures, they can provide a lot of moisture into the atmosphere that then condenses and forms latent heat,” said Alison Nugent. “And so here in Hawaii, we don’t have as warm waters as they have in the Gulf.”
The second major factor that differs between the two regions is wind shear, a factor that contributes to a diminished storm.
“It helps to kind of get them asymmetrical so that they fall apart faster. Whereas the Atlantic doesn’t always have as strong of wind shear or any at all,” Nugent said.
Wailuku resident Sarah Taylor’s grandparents are both in their 80s and decided to hunker down in their home just south of Tampa.
“Really healthy. They stay active in their eighties,” Taylor said, “they have a new home built five years ago. They have hurricane proof windows. They sustain about 120 miles per hour.”
Former Hawaii residents that live within the storm’s cone of uncertainty said wind and rain are not their only worries.
“So far we’ve been lucky that we haven’t had any damage. We did have a tornado come come by our house though,” said former Makiki resident Bob Lutjen, who now lives in St. Lucie. “About a mile up the road, it hit our sheriff’s department and took out their parking facility.” “We’re used to getting the lightning and the thunder,” said his wife, Michelle, “no tornadoes, though!”
Experts said despite environmental differences between the Aloha and Sunshine states, there are some similarities in infrastructure.
Nugent said storm surge is a big risk near Tampa, which is an area that is not used to hurricanes.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure that is susceptible,” Nugent said. “I think that message is similar for for Hawaii, where Oahu has not been hit by a strong storm in decades, if at all. And there’s a lot of infrastructure that is susceptible to damage if a hurricane were to hit us.”
“If Hurricane Iniki came over Oahu next year, I think it would be a lot worse for Oahu here than it was for Kauai just because of the population density.”
Alison Nugent, UH Manoa associate professor of atmospheric pressure
Hurricane Iniki clocked in as a category four with winds between 130 and 160 miles per hour, it destroyed over 1,400 homes on Kauai and caused over $3 billion in damage — equivalent to about $6.7 billion in 2024
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