The state has installed 16 new weather stations across Maui County since the deadly fires in August 2023 and plans to install more soon on other islands.

At first glance, a device sitting just across Honoapi‘ilani Highway from Māʻalaea Harbor looks almost like a space rover. With its long antenna that reaches several feet toward the sky and three spindly legs, the white metal structure seems as though it could be found traversing Mars or collecting rocks from the moon.

“To me, it looks a little like an alien ship,” said Lance DeSilva, the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources’ forest management supervisor on Maui.

The contraption is actually one of several dozen new remote weather stations that have been installed by local, state and federal government agencies around Maui an

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