Starting July 1, the 麻豆传媒 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 贬补飞补颈ʻ颈’蝉 麻豆传媒 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 (麻豆传媒 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 贬补飞补颈ʻ颈’蝉 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 麻豆传媒 project provided the cyberinfrastructure foundation that makes it all run.
The HCDP team consists of several grant researchers based in 麻豆传媒 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.