There was shock in Hawaii this week as now fell on the state’s tallest peak, turning the mountain top into a winter wonderland.

The summit area of Mauna Kea on the Big Island got about two inches (five centimeters) of the white powder.

Hawaii is better known to many for its warm weather, beaches and rainforests. But it’s not unusual for snow to fall at the higher elevations on Mauna Kea during the wetter, winter months.

The summit is so high — it sits 13,803 feet (4,207 meters) above sea level — that temperatures there can drop below freezing year-round, creating the potential for snow during any month.

This week, an upper level disturbance brought colder temperatures as moisture came in from the east and moved over the islands on Sunday through to Monday, said Maureen Ballard, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

“Combination of cold temperatures and moisture equals snow when it’s below freezing,” Ballard said.

Webcams mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope showed the ground covered in white shortly after sunrise on Monday. Two days later, the cameras showed the snow was gone.

Nobody lives on Mauna Kea’s summit, which is sacred to many of the Native Hawaiians. Centuries-old stories say Mauna Kea is the first-born son of the sky father and earth mother.

The limited light pollution and dry atmosphere at the mountain top also make it one of the world’s best places to observe the night sky and stars. Astronomers have built about a dozen telescopes at the summit, leading to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries and some of the first images of planets outside our solar system.

Meanwhile, this week, Mount Fuji in Japan is yet to see any snow on its slopes this year, with forecasters saying its a record.

The active volcano just west of Tokyo is the country’s highest peak at 3,776m and usually sees its first snow of the year in early October.

Since records began 130 years ago, this is the latest date in the year the mountain has gone without snow. The volcano last erupted about 300 years ago.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Gov. Josh Green is making a strident defense of his nominee to the state Commission on Water Resource Management, and is calling for compromise on water and development issues.

He is speaking out after a key state senator said the nominee was not qualified and critics suspect he would side with developers.

The governor has been under fire from environmentalists for his handling of water issues since soon after the Maui wildfires, when his administration reassigned the commission’s top administrator after a false claim he delayed release of water needed to fight fires.

His appointment of retired state historic preservation official V.R. Hinano Rodrigues is the latest move to be challenged, including by a key state senator.

Related post: Governor under fire again over water commission appointment

In an exclusive interview with Hawaii News Now, he called on his critics to compromise.

“These kind of stories that get rolled out and start from a place of confrontation, what do they get us? Nothing. They get us no housing, no progress, no water changes, no nothing,” he said.

After a nearly 11-month process, which water rights advocates said was intentional stalling, the governor nominated Rodrigues to a position reserved by law for a person with “substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian water resource management techniques and in traditional Hawaiian riparian usage.”

That’s to ensure that traditional kalo farmers have access to adequate stream water, which has created conflicts with large landowners and developers, especially on perpetually water short Maui.

Rodrigues was a cultural expert and manager with the state historic preservation agency.

“Let them see this person’s resume. It’s fantastic,” Green said. “This is someone who’s committed years and years of service in the field, and, by the way, grows his own taro, for gosh sakes.”

But Sen. Lorraine Inouye, who chairs the Water and Land Committee, said that doesn’t meet the qualifications in the law.

“One needs to have some water resource management background. And certainly, from my standpoint, it doesn’t seem like this gentleman is qualified,” she said.

Inouye, whose committee will review Rodrigues’ confirmation, said there were more qualified candidates the governor passed over and would have been acceptable to the water rights and environmental communities.

“I can’t understand why the governor is already upsetting the community and not fulfilling the requirements of that particular seat,” she said.

The governor responded to Inouye’s comments:

“All due respect, the senators should talk to the individual, find out where they’re coming from long before lobbing a little hand grenade behind their back,” he said.

In his interview, the governor described his decision-making process, involving two rounds of interviews and two sets of nominees from the screening committees:

“First person felt not to be Hawaiian enough, though it was Hawaiian and a leader, but not the guy people wanted. So, I didn’t do it. Second person got scared out of their, you know, their dress clothes. They didn’t want to deal with a conflict. And the third and fourth person, great people, but they brought an ideological perspective that was going to cause chaos as I try to work through some of these problems,” Green said, using the fingers of one hand to count off the nominees.

Green said advocates of stream restoration are blocking needed housing, although they dispute that, and says people are too quick to attack nominees who are willing to compromise.

“In our beautiful state, if people don’t line up perfectly, then we demonize them,” he said.

“This is no way to move forward as a state, and so I would ask those who bring an ideological position to instead, trust that people are going to actually try to work in good faith,” Green said.

Rodrigues could take his seat on the water commission as early as Thursday, when the commission meets in Honolulu.

The commission is also scheduled to confirm the new deputy for the commission, Ciara Kahahane, whom the governor appointed in August.

Watch the governor’s full interview:

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Any place, including Hawaii, can become a winter wonderland with the right amount of snow. 

The Aloha State experienced likely its first snowfall of the season on Monday after a winter storm rolled in, coating a summit in glistening white snow. 

The arrival of snow in the region is not uncommon, especially in higher elevations between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, Alan Reppert, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather shared with USA TODAY on Tuesday. 

Nevertheless, the snowfall gave Americans a sneak peak of what could be coming to their neck of the woods over the next few months.

Video shows first snowfall of the season in Hawaii

Derek Petrowski witnessed the snowfall firsthand earlier in the week, taking a short video to document the appearance of snow on Mauna Kea, the highest peak on the island.

Mountain ranges as well as volcanic peaks in the surrounding area are most affected by winter weather during the wet season, which typically runs from October through April. Most severe weather and blizzard warnings are commonly issued within that timeframe. 

“Most of the snow that happens in Hawaii is over (8,000-9,000 feet) … They can even see some snow in the highest peaks in Hawaii during the middle of the summer as well,”  Reppert said. “It’s something that happens there.” 

Residents and tourists are lucky enough reap the benefits of the Big Island’s good weather through the wet season because they are not close enough to see or experience the snow. 

The only evidence of snow in the area, other than the video and pictures taken by residents, may be a slight breeze or an increased risk of showers.

Mauna Kea stands at a height of 13,803 feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. 

According to Newsweek, the National Weather Service meteorologists issued a winter weather advisory ahead of the snowfall since “deep moisture” was expected to move over the area through Monday, leading to “periods of rain and snow on the high summits.” The winter storm brought heavy snow to higher elevations and heavy rain to areas in lower elevations until Tuesday morning, Newsweek reported. 

The last time a winter weather advisory was issued for the volcano was May 11 NWS meteorologist Derek Wroe told Newsweek before the weekend winter storm.