Copyright © 2020
by Ralph F. Couey
This essay is likely to cause a lot of heartburn among those of you suffering through your mainland winters, Having grown up in the midwest, and suffering in the 18-degree cold at last year's AFC Championship game in Kansas City, rest assured I do feel your pain.
Winter has come to Hawai'i. Atop the world's largest volcano, Mauna Loa and its nearby sister Mauna Kea, about twelve inches of snow have fallen. This makes for some unforgettable views, as most snow-capped mountains do. Here in Honolulu, nighttime temperatures are falling through the low 60's. Local people are going around in long pants, coats and hoodies, and have even eschewed the traditional flip-flop for actual shoes. Now, before you all go into your eye-rolling, groaning, castigation of us islanders, allow me to explain.
Living in the tropics is an entirely different experience. Because we are 1,600 miles closer to the equator, the sun's rays are far more direct than in the higher latitudes. This means even on a day when the temperatures creep into the 90's, it can feel 10 or 15 degrees warmer. And on those days when the trade winds shift or die completely, it is downright sweatily oppressive. Living in such conditions, over time (at least a year), the pores of your skin open much wider, responding to the need for the body to cool itself. I know it gets hot, humid, and oppressive in many places on the mainland, but there, those conditions last only three months, in some places maybe four. Here, those kind of days persist for 9 to 10 months. If you spend enough time here, you will lose all your tolerance for even moderately cool temperatures.
Growing up in the midwest, my comfort zone, my wheelhouse was about 68 to 78 degrees. For me, that was very comfortable, as long as the humidity was low as well. But even in mid-January, I remember playing outdoors in shorts and t-shirt when the temperatures "soared" to 55 degrees. My poor mother consistently upbraided me for under-dressing during the winter.
