Colloquially called “The Big E”, she was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. USS Enterprise (CV-6) was the seventh U.S. The Enterprise played a substantial role throughout the remainder of the war, and had it been in port that day, things may have been very different.”Īerial view of USS Enterprise at sea in 1945 (courtesy Wikipedia) According to the former director for the US Naval Institute, Paul Stillwell, “the vessel was behind schedule returning to Pearl Harbor, and because of this was not present for the attack. The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was coming back to Pearl Harbor from Wake Island and was actually scheduled to arrive on the morning of December 7 th, but it was delayed due to rough seas. Though the US suffered greatly on that particular morning due in large part to the generally clear sky conditions, the weather actually played an important indirect beneficial role for the nation. In summary, as far as the weather was concerned, all was favorable for the attack that had been planned “many days or even weeks in advance” according to President Roosevelt in his famous speech given on the following day. After crossing the rough waters of the North Pacific, the Japanese fighter pilots in more than 350 planes reported seeing a “long white line of coast” referring to Oahu’s Kakuku Point (according to National Geographic, AccuWeather). There was nothing that would obstruct fighter pilots lines of sight, no heavy cloud cover and no heavy rains to make flight difficult on that fateful day. On the morning of December 7 th, 1941, the weather observer at Hickam Field in Honolulu reported mainly clear skies each hour with mild temperatures and light east-to-northeast winds. Pearl Harbor is in the “rain-shadow” of the Koolau Range on the south side of Oahu In fact, Honolulu averages only about 17 inches of rainfall in a given year due to the drying effects of the downsloping winds. While clouds and rain are common in the Koolau Range, the downsloping winds tend to dry out for southern side of the island. With the persistent trade winds blowing from the northeast most of the year, this particular part of Oahu is in the rain shadow of the Koolau Range. As early as the 1870’s, the US military had scoped out the islands for commercial and defensive potential and decided that Pearly harbor on the south side of Oahu about ten miles northwest of Honolulu fit the bill. In 1941, Hawaii was a territory of the US with statehood some eighteen years away. For more on the life of PFC Sherman Levine, click here. The weather observer on this day was PFC Sherman Levine of the US Air Corps and he died during the attack, likely a few minutes after completing the last observation on this small slip of paper. ![]() ![]() ![]() The obstruction to visibility at this time could have been “smoke”. The highlighted text appears to say “obstructions to visibility at this (scribbled)” and then what appears to be the word “terrified”. It is believed that the decision to attack on that particular day had plenty to do with the projected favorable weather conditions.Īctual hourly weather observations shown here as recorded by the weather observer at Hickam Field in Honolulu, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. As Japanese fighters crossed the Pacific Ocean, they were given hope that their mission would succeed when the announcement was made of “clouds mostly over the mounts…visibility good”. naval base by Japanese fighter planes at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. Unfortunately, the weather conditions on that particular day would play a role in the bombing of the U.S. ![]() The weather on Oahu, Hawaii in the early morning hours of Sunday, December 7 th, 1941 was not at all unusual for the time of year with mild temperatures and mainly clear skies.
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