Lāhainā Noon: when shadows disappear in Hawaii

Lāhiniā Noon is a unique phenomenon that occurs twice a year in which the sun reaches a point directly overhead for certain areas in the tropics. On these occasions, which occur in May and July, the sun’s position is at a 90 degree angle to the earth, meaning that any upright objects will have no shadow at all.

The Bishop Museum held a contest in 1990 in order to come up with a name for this unique phenomenon and the winning name was Lāhiniā Noon. Since the word Lāhainā can be translated to English as ‘cruel sun’ it seems a fitting name.

Also called zero shadow day, the sun’s rays fall directly on an object and therefore do not cast a shadow. The site where this occurs is known as earth’s subsolar point. This point moves through the tropics and the time varies depending on location within the islands.

The ancient Hawaiian name for this phenomenon is Kau ka lā i ka lolo, a hoʻi ke aka i ke kino which means ‘rests the strong sun on the brain, and retreats the shadow into the body’. There is even a sculpture in Honolulu that was built with this event in mind. The curvy features of the Sky Gate sculpture on the lawn beside the Frank Fasi Municipal Building creates a perfect circle on the concrete base during the Lāhainā Noon.