MET 102 Pacific
Climates and Cultures
Lecture 11: Local Winds
Discussion Questions – Caviedes 2001
• Why was the discovery of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) extraordinary? Why
didn’t the Polynesians continue to South America?
• Rapa Nui is exceedingly small (8 by 4 miles) and is located in a region of the South
Pacific where the prevailing winds and ocean currents flow from east to west,
discouraging navigators from approaching.
• Rapa Nui is in the middle of the South Pacific High with subsiding air. There are no big
trees for them to build canoes.
Discussion Questions – Kuapu’u 1902
- Ka Nupepa Kuakoa 1869
• Who do you think Pāka’a is? What about La’amaomao? And
Kūapāka’a?
• Pāka’a is the Wind God who has control of “Calling the Winds”
• Laʻamaomao is Pāka’a’s mother.
• Kūapāka’a is the child of Paka’a and a Moloka’i chiefess to retained the
power of his father to call the winds.
• Which location is known for strong winds?
Calm winds?
• The writing describes strong, uncommon winds, for
Kona and says it is similar to Hilo. This means that
Hilo is known for strong winds and Kona is known
for calm winds.
Large and Small Scale Winds
• Macroscale Winds
• Planetary: Westerlies, trade winds
• Synoptic: Cyclones and anti-cyclones, Hurricanes (weather map
size)
• Mesoscale Winds
• Thunder storms, tornadoes, etc
• Part of larger macroscale wind systems.
• Microscale Winds
• Chaotic motions including gusts and dust devils
• Small, very localized breezes
• Eddy
• Whirl of air
• Come in different sizes
• Small volume of air that behaves differently from
the large flow in which it resides.
• Caused by encountering an obstacle
• Eddies are down wind from the obstacle
What is an Eddy?
Local Winds
• True local winds are caused by topographic effects or variations
in local surface composition
• Local Winds found in Polynesian Islands (including New Zealand)
• Land and Sea Breezes
• Mountain and Valley Breezes
• Country Breezes
• Local Winds typically not found in Polynesia
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•
•
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Chinook (Foehn Winds)
Katabatic (Fall winds)
Santa Ana Winds
Haboobs
Land and Sea Breezes
• Most intense Land and Sea Breezes form along tropical coastlines
adjacent to cool ocean currents.
• Hawaii (including Oahu) experiences these every day.
Nice Animation:
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1903/es1903page01.cfm
Daytime – Sea Breeze Conditions
• The land heats more quickly than the water.
• Higher pressure is then located over the ocean.
Nighttime – Land Breeze Conditions
• The land cools more quickly than the water.
• Higher pressure is then located over land.
Mountain and Valley Breezes
• Valley Breeze
• Daytime
• Sun warms valley walls
• Max at afternoon, cloudiness and Tstorms likely
• Mountain Breeze
• Nighttime
• Raditional cooling of valley walls
Country Breezes
• Associated with large urban areas. On crowded
islands, these regions will be warmer than the
rural areas.
• Light wind blowing in
from rural areas
• Clear, calm nights
• City is warmer (urban
heat island)
Local Winds not Found
in Polynesia
• Chinook (Foehn) Winds
• Warm Dry air moving down the east slopes
of the Rockies (Chinook) or Alps (Foehn).
• Katabatic (Fall) Winds
• Originate when cold air, situated over a
highland area (like an ice sheet) is set in
motion. Gravity carries the cold air over the
rim like a waterfall.
• The air is heated like a Chinook, but because
it starts so cold it stays cold.
• Same as Mountain Breeze but STRONGER
Lee side air is
heated by
compression
Local Winds not Found
in Polynesia
• Santa Ana Winds
• Typically occurs in September-March
but can happen at any time the
desert is cooler than SoCal.
• Compressional Heating makes it
warm
• Haboob
• Associated with Dust Storms in dry
regions
• Examples: Dustbowl storms in the
1930s. Giant dust storms common in
the African Sudan
• Caused by out flowing air from
Thunderstorms.
Cultural Connection to Winds in Hawaii
• Localized Winds Depend on Local Topography
• Local winds and the formation of clouds are related to the diurnal (daily) heating cycle
(land vs. ocean)
• Winds and clouds depend on the height of the mountains and the size of the individual
Islands
• Mountains as a blocking and triggering force
• Winds can go up and over or around the mountains
• When winds go up slope they can form Orographic Clouds
and rain
• Are responsible for localized climates like “wet windward”
and “dry leeward” slopes
• Can trigger and anchor thunderstorms
• Predictability  Stories and Myths
• Mountains are fixed, climate regimes occur
• If you know the topography you can predict the general
direction of the winds
Cultural Connection to Winds in Hawaii
• Unique Features
• Each island has it’s own unique combination of mountains, valleys, sea, land, and windward
and leeward features.
• This causes each island, and different parts of each island, to have localized winds that
differ from the general large-scale (trade wind) flow
• Cultural Importance as seen in Oral and Written Literature
• Important to maintain knowledge of the weather – needed for sailing and farming
• To be considered local or kama’āina (Child of the Land), you may be called upon to
recite the winds or rains of that place.
• If you can’t recite these you may be labeled a malihini (a stranger)
• Chants listing the winds were often published in newspapers or as part of stories
• To inform the public about the nature of the winds in a certain place
• Drama
• People would fight about who was more kama’āina and write critiques back and forth
about wind names and descriptions in the newspapers.
• “I’m right, you’re wrong, I’m more local than you!”
Letter to Newspaper
Home Rula Repubalika
• When La‘amaomao was living, she was famous
because the winds obeyed her, and she could call
their names. When she died, her child inherited the
power to call the winds.
• O reader, here are these six issues from the
newspaper Ka Hae, so I am shortening this for later.
However, I will tell all of you some of the winds that
were called by Kūapāka‘a, the child of Pāka‘a from his
union with a Moloka‘i chiefess. Pāka‘a taught him all
the duties that he sought out on behalf
Keawenuia‘umi, and we already saw the winds of
Hawai‘i in the newspaper Ka Hokuloa. So I recite to
you the winds of Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, their names and
the places in which they reside, as follows:
• The names of the winds are then listed by
location.
• Lehua has a Moa‘e wind,
• Kawaihoa has a Miki‘oi wind etc.
Wind Names
• There are over 300 names for
the different winds that blow
over the Hawaiian Islands.
• They are important since they
reflect the Ancient Hawaiians
emphasis on keen observations
of the environment and
knowledge of topography
• The names describe the
characterisics, direction, origin,
force and timings.
Wind Name Examples
• The wind names for Hana
Include:
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•
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•
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•
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sea conditions
whether or not it will rain
if the sun typically shines
if the wind is good for sailing
cloud types
the direction of the wind
the location (e.g. top of mountain)
how common it is
The Wind Gourd of La’amaomao
• The Wind Gourd of La‘amaomao is a
translation of Moolelo Hawaii o Pakaa a me
Ku-a-Pakaa, na Kahu Iwikuamoo o
Keawenuiaumi, ke Alii o Hawaii, a o na
Moopuna hoi a Laamaomao
• “The Hawaiian Story of Pāk’aa and Kū-a-Pāka’a,
the Personal Attendants of Keawenuiaumi, the
Chief of Hawaii, and the Descendants of
La’amaomao”.
• The book contains the names of the winds of
all the Hawaiian Islands, known as the
Territory of Hawaii in 1902 when the book
was written (9 years after US took over).
The Wind Gourd of La’amaomao
• Set mainly on Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i, and
Moloka‘i
• Concerns the close relationship
between the ali‘i (Chief) and his kahu
iwikuamo‘o, or personal attendant,
and their responsibilities to each other
and the people they ruled.
• Ancestry was essential in establishing
status and access to privileges and
special powers (such as control over
the winds)
The Wind Gourd of La’amaomao
• The wind gourd referred to in the title of this legend was
believed to contain all the winds of Hawai‘i, which could be
called forth by chanting their names.
• The gourd is an embodiment of Lono, the Hawaiian god of
agriculture and fertility
• In the Pāka‘a legend, the gourd, along with the marvelous
wind chants naming dozens of local winds, is passed down
from La‘amaomao, the Hawaiian wind goddess (lit. “distant
sacredness”), to her granddaughter La‘amaomao; to her
granddaughter’s son Pāka‘a; to Pāka‘a’s son, Kū-a-Pāka‘a.
• The female gender of the wind deity in the Pāka‘a story seems
to be a Hawaiian development as the wind deity in other
Polynesian traditions is male (Ra‘a—Society Islands, Raka—
Cook Islands, Raka-maomao—New Zealand).