Yes, it snowed in Hawaii this week – as much as 10 inches, in fact. But don't panic, it's actually a fairly common occurrence. "While most people think of the islands as a warm, tropical paradise, it’s not uncommon to see snow on the volcanic peaks of the Big Island," said Weather.com meteorologist Caitlin Kaiser in an online report.

Kona means "leeward," which is the side of the mountain that is often void of precipitation. However, when the moist air from the south and southeast rises up these mountains, it condenses and falls as precipitation.

Rain will continue through today, likely a good portion of Tuesday (Jan. 6) — at times becoming torrential — and possibly even into Wednesday (Jan. 7) as what forecasters at the National Weather Service Honolulu office started off calling a cold-core cyclone moves west of the islands by midweek, beginning to weaken later today and into Wednesday.

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The summit of Mauna Kea on the Hawaiʻi Island hosts the world’s largest astronomical observatory for optical, infrared and submillimeter astronomy. But Mauna Kea has a much more interesting history than what we are doing on top it ...