The hula dancers shivered, wrapped in towels, and then performed under a hotel awning instead of poolside during a chilly downpour on the eve of U.S.-sponsored meetings in Honolulu to combat climate change. The weather was strange all over the Hawaiian Islands, with winter storm advisories posted for the Big Island, where rare hail fell. A popular mountain road to Maui’s Haleakala Crater was closed because of ice.

On Waikiki Beach, some of the more plush hotels stacked sandbags along the water and beaches are narrower than they were a few decades ago.

“It’s been going on for the last 10 years, especially in winter when you normally get high swells,” said Patricia Tummons, founder and editor of Environment Hawaii , which chronicles ecological developments on the islands. “I think what may be changing now is the run-up — when the water runs up the beach, it’s just inching ever closer to the structures.” She didn’t have to note that these beach-front structures are some of Hawaii’s most valuable real estate.

Asked whether this development could be due to climate change, Tummons replied, “I really think of course it is. We’ve got our heads buried in the ever-vanishing sand if we don’t think what we see around us is the result of a changing climate … I think basically if you have no mitigation, in 50 years’ time Waikiki could well become the Venice of the Pacific. What are the hotels going to do?”