City Forecast Discussion: Hilo, Hawaii

Ain't this a beautiful sight.  Blue ocean, mountains in the background, and a gorgeous coast line in the tropics. Hilo is a spectacular vacation location that has a nearly predictable temperature due to it's tropical location.  Rain is a common appearance as well as breezy conditions.  So what were some of the forecast challenges?  One thing that wasn't much of a challenge was the high and low.  For the two weeks forecasting for Hilo the high ranged from 76 F to 81 F and the low ranged from 62 F to 67 F.  Small range in temperature so being a degree or two off is fairly common.  The wind was just slightly more challenging than the temperature because depending on which direction it came from it could be as strong as over 25 mph sustained or as low as 10 mph.  If it came from a northerly direction it would be coming off the ocean and most likely be breezy, but if it were to be more from the land then it could be light because of surface friction from the trees and buildings.  The challenging part for Hilo was the precipitation.  Being in a tropical location you would expect at least a little bit of rain every day with some days having a lot of it and that is true, but it is all location dependent.  The precise location that was being forecast for was the western side of the Hilo International Airport.  So, if it rained on the eastern side of the airport or on the western portion of Hilo then it doesn't count toward the contest.  The other important factor to keep in mind, other than location, is the amount of precipitation.  It could be a light shower and get just a tiny bit of rain or a thunderstorm and get over an inch.  As a matter of fact, Hawaii experienced its largest hailstone during this time period of forecasting for Hilo when Oahu experienced a storm that dropped grapefruit-size hail that measured up to 4.25 inches long.  Check out how big this thing was: 

The next location is far from the tropics and is in the great Tornado Alley.  This "Star City" is home to a large group of huskers and was originally named Lancaster, but was changed due to the assassination of the 16th president of the U.S.  Think real hard.