Vog: A Uniquely Hawaiian Problem

You're on your beautiful Hawaiian vacation. One morning, you look out the mauka side (mountain side) of your hotel and notice that instead of the brilliant greens you're used to, everything is blue and smoky. You ask the concierge. "Vog," he says, shrugging.

You think nothing of it. But later, you realize that it's hard to breathe. Your wife's asthma is acting up, and by the time you get to the restaurant, you decide you can't sit outdoors and enjoy the trade winds, like you meant to.

Congratulations! You've just discovered Hawaii's main pollution problem: vog. And you can't do anything about it. It blows into all the islands periodically from the volcanos on the Big Island.

What Is Vog?

Vog is produced by the collected gases from a volcano, which are chemically changed when hit by sunlight and humidity. Part of the haze you see is from larger-than-normal water droplets; part is from particulates and aerosols from the vog itself.

Vog has a set of unmistakeable and unique qualities. It smells peculiar - on the Big Island, it typically has a strong sulfurous odor. By the time it reaches neighbor islands, vog has lost most of that sulfur quality and instead smells like hot metal and rock powder, and has an almost gritty feel to it when you inhale. You can taste it as well as smell it.

Vog gets into your eyes, your clothes, and your lungs. People who have asthma are well-advised to stay inside during vog alerts, or at least to do mostly indoor activities and remain in an air-conditioned car. Those who have more compromised pulmonary problems, like COPD, should choose these days to relax.

Beyond health, vog has some other dangers. It is similar in composition to the smoke from a coal-burning electric power plant, so you can expect similar acid rain effects - cars that have been driven through vog should be washed as soon as the pollution moves back offshore. Driving through vog is very similar to driving through thick fog, and many drivers on the Big Island, especially the Kona Coast region, simply drive with their lights on all the time.

Fortunately for tourism, vog is rare everywhere but the Big Island, and does not last long when it does come onshore.

What Should Tourists Do About Vog?

If you don't have any allergies or serious lung conditions, vog probably won't bother you much. If, however, you are in one of the risk groups, it would be a good idea to get travel insurance covering the cost of your vacation if there is vog in Hawaii during your planned stay. You can't do anything to prevent vog, any more than you could prevent a hurricane; but you can at least protect your financial investment in your vacation.

You should also be aware that vog in any of the islands (except the Big Island, where the volcanos are) is rare during summer, late spring, and early fall. Typically, it is only a problem during the winter months. It rarely hits islands north of Oahu. Those with serious lung problems who will be visiting during winter might want to consider vacationing on Kauai as opposed to a more southern island -- or simply leave vacation plans flexible, as it is almost unheard of for all the major Hawaiian islands to be affected.