WFO Honolulu Office History

August 14, 1940: A weather station was established at Honolulu International Airport.
January 27, 1946: The Weather Bureau Airport Station (WBAS) established at Honolulu International Airport and began forecast operations.
July 14, 1946: Hourly weather observations began at the WBAS.
June 1, 1957: The WBAS began Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) operations.
October 11, 1962: All WBAS operations moved to the Administration Building at Honolulu International Airport.
November 15, 1968: NOAA Weather Radio (KBA99) began 24 hour continuous broadcasts.
October 1, 1970: The United States Weather Bureau became the National Weather Service and the office was renamed Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO).
January 10, 1974: Observing operations moved to the Honolulu International Airport Observatory Annex.
July 14, 1975: The National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) Honolulu Satellite Field Services Station (SFSS) began providing satellite data support to the forecast office and other offices in the Pacific.
October 1, 1983: The SFSS became part of the WFO.
May 12, 1995: The facility at UH Manoa was dedicated.
June 16, 1995: WFO operations (except observations) moved from Honolulu International Airport to the Manoa Campus of the University of Hawai`i.
November 1, 1996: A private contractor took over observing operations at the Honolulu International Airport Observatory Annex.
February 15, 2000: New headings for products went into effect. The WFO identifier was changed from PHNL to PHFO.
July 14, 2000: The new computer system, Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), is commissioned.
October 25, 2000: The new WFO Honolulu Webpage debuts.
July 1, 2001: WFO Honolulu becomes a WMO RSMC (World Meteorological Organization Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre).
July 15, 2004: WFO Honolulu changes from 8 geographic zone areas, and 2 geographic marine areas, to 28 and 24, respectively to better serve the islands.
January 19, 2006: WFO Honolulu began issuing products with VTEC coding.
February 1, 2006: Point and Click forecasts available for Hawai`i.; September 8, 2015; The updated Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS 2), is commissioned.; May 15, 2019; The CPHC website is merged into hurricanes.gov to allow seamless transitions as systems move across tropical basins.