Why do TV stations have meteorologists?

If you could order picture perfect weather from a weather making machine, what would it be?

How about this? “Partly sunny with a chance for light showers near the mountains. The overnight low in the mid 70s and the daytime high in the mid 80s.”

That’s Hawaii’s normal weather about 300 days a year. For 30 days a year the weather is a little warmer or a bit cooler. The remaining days may be cloudy with more rain.

That’s it? Yes. Why?

Hawaii’s consistent weather has to do with the location of the island chain in the Pacific. The state is surrounded by warm ocean water. Cool air coming down from the North will warm up as it approaches Hawaii. Warm air coming up from the South will cool as it nears the islands.

The result is stable weather, stable water temperatures. In fact, ocean water temperatures around Hawaii vary from about 76-degrees in later winter and early spring, to 81 degrees in late summer or early fall.

Hawaii’s air temperature is nearly as consistent, with seasonal daily averages ranging from 72 to 88 degrees in summer and fall, to 68 to 84 degrees in winter and spring.

Is that weather to order, or what? If Hawaii’s weather is so stable and so predictable, why do Hawaii’s television stations have meteorologists to report the obvious?

Bad weather in Hawaii is infrequent, but when it arrives, it’s treated as news on television and radio, not as the latest weather forecast. Do viewers enjoy watching a pretty face strut through the weather graphics on TV?

Yes, except for KHON’s Joe Moore, the pompously local news reader of the Honolulu Fox network affiliate. Just ask former weather girl Trini Kaopuiki, once the star weather beauty of local TV, and formerly engaged to Moore. For a day.

Except for fancy graphics which act as eye candy opium for dedicated media personality watchers, Hawaii’s TV stations do not need a resident meteorologist.

The adage “Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it” doesn’t apply to Hawaii. When weather in Hawaii is severe enough, it becomes news. When it’s not, it’s just another day in paradise.

The real news on TV and radio comes from state and local government. It’s much easier for reporters to cover what’s going on in Hawaii government. After all, reporters don’t have to travel far to gather their so-called news, and the combination of fantasy, fact, and entertainment makes for addictive theater.