Lāhainā Noon in Hawaiʻi: When and Where to see it (2027)

Twice a year the midday sun stands directly over Hawaiʻi, and for a few minutes a flagpole or your own body casts no shadow. That is Lāhainā Noon. It happens in mid-to-late May and again in mid-to-late July, on either side of the June solstice. The Bishop Museum coined the term from lā haina, or “cruel sun,” in 1990. It has nothing to do with the town of Lahaina on Maui.

The timing isn’t fixed. The date and the clock time both depend on where you stand. Nāʻālehu at the Big Island’s south point sees it as early as May 15, weeks before northern Kauaʻi does. Find the town nearest you and you can pin your own Lāhainā Noon to the minute.

Good to know: you can find a list with more easily observable astronomy events in our Astronomy calendar for Hawaiʻi.

What exactly is “Lāhainā Noon”?

“Lā haina” means “cruel sun” in Hawaiian, and the older phrase kau ka lā i ka lolo translates as “the sun rests upon the brain.” The Bishop Museum borrowed the idea in 1990 to name the moment the sun stands directly overhead. Despite the spelling, it has nothing to do with the town of Lahaina on Maui.

Everywhere else on the planet this moment is called the “sub-solar point”: the spot where the sun stands directly above you, so you cast no shadow. Diana Cowern (Physics Girl, who grew up in Hawaiʻi) explains it in this video:

The Hawaiian sun is not really that cruel, unless you are out on the hot lava plains without enough water to drink.

Beyond the photo opportunity, Lāhainā Noon is a good moment to stop and think about how our planet moves around the sun.

When is Lāhainā Noon in Hawaiʻi in 2027?

Lāhainā Noon lands twice a year on the Hawaiian islands, once in late May and again in mid-July, on either side of the summer solstice. The exact date and time depend on your latitude, your north-south position relative to the equator.

For any other spot in the tropics you can look it up as the moment of solar noon when the sun’s altitude reaches exactly 90 degrees overhead, for example on the timeanddate website. To watch the sub-solar point travel across the planet in real time, see this live map.

On the Hawaiian islands, the 2027 Lāhainā Noon falls at these times, listed from the northernmost island down to the southern tip of the Big Island:

Two forces set your Lāhainā Noon. Latitude sets the date. The farther south you stand, the earlier the May date and the later the July date, so the pair spreads wider around the solstice. Nāʻālehu, the southernmost town in the US at 19.1°N, gets the widest gap: May 15 and July 27. Princeville on northern Kauaʻi, at 22.2°N, narrows the gap to June 1 and July 9.

Longitude sets the clock, with eastern spots going first: the Big Island lands around 12:17 to 12:31 PM, Kauaʻi around 12:35 to 12:44 PM.

The shadow cast by this statue during Lāhainā Noon is just a vertical line. Image credit: Daniel Ramirez, (source).

See the 2027 dates on a map

Prefer a picture to a table? Each map shades an island by the day the sun climbs straight overhead, and marks every town with its own date and local time. Roads and the big summits are there to help you find your spot. Find your island below, then your town.

Hawaiʻi (Big Island)

Big Island, first Lāhainā Noon (May 2027): the sun climbs straight overhead from May 15 at Nāʻālehu in the south to May 21 at Hāwī in the north.

Big Island, second Lāhainā Noon (July 2027): from July 22 at Hāwī in the north down to July 27 at Nāʻālehu in the south.

Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi

Maui County, first Lāhainā Noon (May 2027).

Maui County, second Lāhainā Noon (July 2027).

Oʻahu

Oʻahu, first Lāhainā Noon (May 2027).

Oʻahu, second Lāhainā Noon (July 2027).

Kauaʻi

Kauaʻi, first Lāhainā Noon (May 2027).

Kauaʻi, second Lāhainā Noon (July 2027).

Where to best see Lāhainā Noon

The phenomenon shows best where you have vertical, oddly shaped objects to watch lose their shadows: a flagpole, a statue, a parking-lot light pole, even your own body. A beach works too, where the flat, shadowless light makes the whole scene look slightly unreal. One spot in Hawaiʻi was built for this exact moment: the Sky Gate sculpture in Honolulu, Oʻahu.

The Sky Gate in Honolulu

If you are on Oʻahu and want to do something special for Lāhainā Noon, head to the Sky Gate sculpture on the lawn next to the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building (650 S King St, Honolulu, HI 96813). This curved 24-foot (8 meter) sculpture has one trick it only reveals during Lāhainā Noon: its usually curved shadows pull together into a perfect circle around the concrete base beneath it.

The Sky Gate sculpture draws a crowd during Lāhainā Noon. Image credit: brx0, (source).

Lāhainā Noon viewing tips

Lāhainā Noon lasts only a few minutes, so a little planning makes the difference between catching it and missing it:

• First, lock in the exact date and time for your island, since the window is short.
• Choose a location with a clear view of the sky, as clouds can cover the sun and end the show.
• Dress for heat. Lāhainā Noon falls at the hottest part of the day, so bring sunscreen and water.
• Bring a camera. The shadowless landscape looks surreal, sometimes like a poorly rendered video game.

Fake or real? These traffic poles lose their shadow for a few minutes during Lāhainā Noon, making them look fake (but they are real).

Future Lāhainā Noon dates (2027 to 2030)

We ran the same computation for every town above, out through 2030. The dates shift by a day or so from year to year, nudged by the leap-year cycle. When the exact alignment falls between two days, the sun comes within a hair of straight overhead on both, and we list the pair.