Aloha from Hawaii! I can certainly say that I do not miss the weather back home with all the clouds and rain and even hail showers on Wednesday. I do miss all of you, but I am forcing myself to have a good time.
The weather here on the big island has some 11 ecosystems, I am told, and a variety of weather. Here in Kona, they are in the midst of a two-year drought. The mountains to the east zap all the moisture out, and not much falls here anyway. However, the first spattering of rain since last October was one week ago.
Fresh snow was seen on Mauna Kea this week here in Hawaii, and, needless to say, our Cascade volcanoes will be receiving feet of new snow the next couple of weeks.
Wednesday driving around, I could see areas where wildfires had scorched some neighborhoods. The grasses are all brown and even the palm trees are looking kind of yellow.
Forecasting the weather in Kona is kind of easy, I think, unless there is a tropical storm looming out in the ocean somewhere. They put out the five-day forecast, and it is the same every day. “Partly cloudy with a 20-40 percent chance of showers, highs 67-84 (cooler in the higher elevations and warmer near the water).
So about the same weather every day. I notice it is clear in the mornings, and then as the clouds stream and build up over the volcanoes, they tend to drift toward the west and the ocean.
Wading through the surf, the water is so warm compared with back home; I could get used to transferring my beach bum mindset over here, ha, ha. I could see remnants of the tsunami that hit here from Japan last year. It took out many seaside homes and changed the landscape in some places. Imagine a wall of water some 20 feet high surging inland. Wow.
The islanders have it all cleaned up, and unless you knew the landscape before, you wouldn’t notice.
Well, back to the island paradise, and I will chat with you on Sunday. Aloha.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.
