VNR: UH launches free personalized climate summaries for Hawaiʻi subscribers

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Link to video and sound: https://go.hawaii.edu/ie8

Starting July 1, the Hawaiʻi community can receive free, personalized monthly climate updates tailored specifically to their own neighborhood or coastline delivered straight to their inbox. Developed by the University of Hawaiʻi's Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP), the new Monthly Climate Summary tool translates complex scientific metrics into highly localized, plain-language updates on rainfall, temperature and drought conditions.

Whether you are a rancher monitoring drought signs, a water manager tracking watershed health, a teacher looking for real-world classroom data, or a resident wanting to stay connected to a beloved valley, the tool brings high-resolution climate data directly to the community.

"Not everyone understands how much rainfall typically falls in their area of interest," said Ryan Longman, director of HCDP and Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC) University Consortium program director at UH Sea Grant College Program (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant). "But if you let them know that it was 50% below normal, or that it was the third driest month in the last century; that's the type of information that anyone can understand."

Tailoring data to traditional boundaries

Subscribers can customize their summaries using traditional Hawaiian geographic boundaries-moku and ahupuaʻa-as well as standard climate divisions and watershed boundaries. This reflects the HCDP team's commitment to making data meaningful within the state's unique cultural and ecological landscape.

To sign up, users can visit the HCDP Climate Summary page, select an area of interest on an interactive map, and enter their email address. Users can subscribe to multiple locations. Each month, they will receive localized climate overviews alongside access to an online dashboard for digging deeper into current and historical trends.

"We wanted end users to be able to connect with the data from the places that meant the most to them," said Cherryle Heu, HCDP climate data analyst and lead climate summary developer. "When you select a point on the map the numbers will update to tell you exactly what is going on at that location. Given that Hawaiʻi's climate is so diverse, this type of tool allows for local insights that a single statewide average can't capture."

Community-backed resilience

The tool's development was initially funded by NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System until the grant was canceled in December 2025.

"We were too far along to stop," Longman said. Support from the DLNR Commission on Water Resource Management allowed the team to complete the tool, a grant from PI-CASC helped support outreach efforts, and the NSF EPSCoR Change Hawaiʻi project provided the cyberinfrastructure foundation that makes it all run.

The HCDP team consists of several grant researchers based in Hawaiʻi Sea Grant and the UH Water Resources Research Center. The Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange Team also led this effort along with collaborators across the state who helped shape the final product.

B-ROLL:

- Monthly Climate Summary Tool

- Hawaiʻi Mesonet station installation in Hawaiʻi Kai

SOUNDBITES:

Ryan Longman/Director, Hawaiʻi Climate Portal (12 seconds)

"We're heading into potentially a super El Niño and really keeping an eye on what's happening in terms of rainfall and temperature can protect livelihoods, protect infrastructure, protect natural resources. There's a lot of reasons to understand what's going on with the climate."

(13 seconds)

"So if you're looking at a forecast it's telling you whats happening in the future. This tool's allowing you to look at where we are in terms of the climate, how hot it is, how dry was it, how wet was it. And it kind of just gives you some really local connection to that information."

Cherryle Heu/ Climate data analyst, Hawaiʻi Climate Portal (18 seconds)

"In the two Kona Low storms that happened in March we saw areas get 70 inches versus three inches of rain. So statewide summaries and averages may not necessarily represent those wide ranges. So with this climate summary tool, you're able to look into and narrow down into very specific locations to pinpoint your exact weather condition."

(12 seconds)

"We offer both scientific as well as culturally significant boundaries and locations to choose from. We have ahupuaʻas and mokus that people who may have cultural ties and significance in their work or in their lives, can choose that and get information for them."