Hawaii can be a confusing place to locate on a map, because of how small it is relative to other much larger continents, and because of how isolated it is, it can be difficult to really pin down the exact latitude of hawaii.
Therefore in this article we’ll be going over what latitude really is, and what Hawaii’s latitude is, whilst providing some facts and figures along the way, so without further ado let’s get started.
What Even Is Latitude + Longitude?
Latitude lines are imaginary lines that divide the Earth. They run east to west, but measure your distance north or south of the earth’s equator.
Because of this, the equator is the most well known latitude line, as most people generally know where it lies on our earth.
At 0 degrees latitude, it equally divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
From the equator, latitude increases as you travel north or south, reaching 90 degrees at each pole.
Each degree of latitude covers about 111 kilometers on the Earth’s surface.
So as you can imagine it’s important to accurately measure latitude as precisely as possible, or you’ll end up with a completely inaccurate measurement which in real life can be enormously far away.
Longitude is the other variant we use with latitude to work out where exactly something is located on our globe, so whilst you’d work out a place’s latitude by looking at the location relative to the equator, when working out longitude you’d look for its location relative to the prime meridian, which is an arbitrary line that runs north to south, that represents 0° on earth.
So now that we know what latitude and longitude is, we can work out what Hawaii is.
Hawaii’s Latitude
Hawaii has a latitude of 19.8968° N a longitude of 155.5828° W which means it lies in the Oceanic Region of the Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii is the only state in the U.S to exist as far west of North America as it does.
Though Hawaii is officially a state, the fact that Hawaii is an accumulation of multiple islands can be a cause of confusion for people who assume a state has to be landlocked along at least one border, Hawaii is just a little bit different, which is why it also causes confusion for people working out its exact latitude and longitude, as the islands are naturally spaced out from one another.
So here’s a list of the different islands precise latitude and longitudes:
Honolulu Hawaii’s Latitude And Longitude
21.3069° N 157.8583° W
Big Island Hawaii’s Latitude And Longitude
19.5429° N 155.6659° W
Oahu’s Latitude And Longitude
21.4389° N 158.0001° W
Maui’s Latitude And Longitude
20.7984° N 156.3319° W
We can see that the general latitude of Hawaii is around 20° N which is reflected in it’s tropical climate.
As Hawaii is relatively close to the equator it’s hotter than other places that may be further away from the equator.
Similar Latitudes
So now that we know the latitude and longitudes of some of the islands in hawaii we can look at other latitudes that are the same as, or are similar to hawaii’s
- Hong Kong- 22.3193° N, 114.1694° E
- Mecca- 21.3891° N, 39.8579° E
- Sahara – 23.4162° N, 25.6628° E
- Mexico City-19.4326° N, 99.1332° W
Considering how many of these locations are on the other sides of the world, it’s interesting to see how close they are to Hawaii on the latitude.
This means that they’re either directly east or west of Hawaii, and they’ll experience somewhat similar climates, we can see that hong kong, mecca, and mexico city would all share very similar temperatures, and the only real exception to this is the sahara, and that’s just because it’s a desert.
They’ll all share the same day length too.
This is because they’re on nearly the same curve that the earth follows, which means that our day and night cycle is synced up, and the heat will be more or less the same.
Because Hawaii is a state that’s made up of islands, temperatures can fluctuate, and be more unpredictable than a few other major cities or locations in our list, but because of the state’s closeness to the equator you’ll always see the heat in the aloha state.
Hawaii As An Isolated Location
Hawaii as a state is quite isolated from the rest of the world, in fact it’s the most isolated populated landmass in the entire world, being 390 miles from California and 3850 miles from Japan, it’s safe to say that there’s nothing really near Hawaii other than ocean for a long, long way.
As many people know, Hawaii formed from the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, which is why there’s so much volcanic activity on the islands, and it’s getting bigger and bigger.
Obviously it’ll take thousands of years to see any real change, but this is why it’s even more important to work out Hawaii’s latitude and longitude, as it’s so far from everywhere else in the world.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully now you know what Hawaii’s latitude is, so you’d be able to locate it from anywhere in the world.
The islands are extremely remote, and are considered the happiest place in all of the US states to live in, so even though it’s remote, you’ll never be alone in Hawaii.
How Close Is Hawaii To The Equator? (Facts And Figures)