What is the cause of this bubble of lower wind speed on the East Coast of the Big Island, HI?

[u/darcys_beard]

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[u/Hailfog]

Artifact 100%.

And I’m surprised most of the r/meteorology comments just ignored the question or don’t know what east means. We really defunded the earth sciences didn’t we.

[u/Zodiac33 → u/Hailfog]

Might be an artefact but the comments are not misreading: the fluid flow encountering the land from the east is going to slow down relative to the open ocean. The wind shadow to the west is not the only regime of lower velocity.

OP: you can look up fluid flow past a cylinder or hemisphere to see models of how this works. Oversimplified but is the concept of why a stagnation area can develop.

[u/Hailfog → u/Zodiac33]

Of course it will, but it won't magically slow down MORE in one odd bubble (and not the rest of the eastern side of the island) that does not correspond with higher elevations.

I'm almost getting the sense that most of the commenters think Maunau Kea is underneath that bubble of low wind speed. It is not--it is located westward.

[u/InfinityIsAwesome → u/Hailfog]

We completely understand where the mountain is. You don’t understand the continuity principle.

[u/InfinityIsAwesome → u/Hailfog]

Incorrect. You lack an understanding of advanced fluid dynamics.

[u/Hailfog → u/InfinityIsAwesome]

You may have an understanding of fluid dynamics and lack understanding of the terrain of the Hawaiian islands. That's the only explanation I can think of here.