Today I received a message from one of my followers on Facebook asking about traveling to Okinawa in June and thought that I would take this opportunity to talk about the weather here in Okinawa during June.
First of all I should say that almost any time is a great time to visit Okinawa. The island is beautiful and has so much to offer that even after 6 years I find myself still unable to say I have seen everything. There are some seasons that are "better" than others depending on where you live and what weather you are used to but overall I believe that it is basically a case by case basis. My main point is that regardless when you come to Okinawa you are going to get those coffee table book quality photos and memories that will last a lifetime.
Overall most people will say that the summer months (June through September) are the hardest months to acclimate to when here in Okinawa. For me I would agree but as I said before I came from the north east where it snows in April. June is the month where the summer starts to get into gear although there are still days where we experience the tail end of the spring. The weather is in the mid 70's to 80's and the humidity is starting to remind us that it's here. One day you might find that it is cool and damp and the next day you can't seem to get to your car without working up a sweat. Luckily at night it cools down a bit and likewise it is cool in the mornings. The unfortunate part is that June falls within the rainy season which means that there is a 90% chance of rain at least during some part of the day. This is honestly not much of a problem because no matter where you are you can get an umbrella for really cheap (about 300yen) and continue on with your day. June is also the start of the typhoon season. Typhoons are basically hurricanes here in the Pacific and during Typhoon Season we see quite a bit of them. If you are traveling here on vacation I would recommend to purchase tickets that are changeable or refundable and if you are coming here to stay for a while (PCS or Move) it is important to make sure that you have everything that you need in order to sustain in the event that a large typhoon comes through.
Over the course of the past 6+ years I have experienced quite a few typhoons, however, only two of these were worth noting. The first was Manyi which happened over 4 years ago. The storm was categorized as a "super typhoon" and took about 4 days to pass by us if my memory serves me right. This was the most devastating typhoon that I have ever seen in my time here. It was impossible to drive, trees were down and in cases they had blown through the fence lines at the bases. Yes that's right imagine a tree taking out a hole like a cannon ball through the military base chained link fence. It was THAT bad. In fact the storm itself was stronger than Katrina. Now with that being said it is important to note that Okinawa is built for typhoons. I have spoken about this in my video Okinawa is built for typhoon and have documented various typhoons on my youtube channel. To put it short and sweet Okinawa can take a hit. Even with Manyi the buildings were mostly ok and most of the damage was to other things such as awnings that were not properly stowed, cars that were struck by trees and similar.
Basically to sum it up expect temperatures of 70 to 80 degrees with it cooler on the morning and evening. Also plan for a rain shower on most days, because it's rainy season it's not a bad idea to have an umbrella. Finally stay alert for typhoons. You can stay tuned to a variety of news sites which will offer you information regarding the hazardous weather.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope that this has offered you some insight of what to expect traveling to Okinawa during the month of June. If you have any further questions please feel free to leave them in the comments below or email me at okininjakitty@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment