Dear Tom,
Does Hawaii have a tsunami season?
Bill Jahn
Dear Bill,
Tsunamis are an ever-present danger on the ocean coasts of the Hawaiian Islands and
around the entire Pacific Basin, but there is no such thing as a "tsunami season" does
because tsunamis are not weather-related.
Tsunamis are sea waves caused generally by earthquakes, less commonly by submarine
landslides or massive landslides into the ocean, and infrequently by submarine volcanic
eruptions. Those phenomena are geologic in nature and occur randomly, not
seasonally.
On average, the Pacific Basin experiences a destructive tsunami about every seven
years, but none has occurred in 34 years. Oceanographer and tsunami expert Dr. Walter
Dudley has said, "We will soon have approached the longest period in recorded history
without a Pacific-wide tsunami, so one could say we're due now."
