Heavy rains hit many parts of Hawaii

[Al in Kona]

How are the rest of you Hawai`i guys doing from the heavy rains (thunderstorms) hitting our islands?   How much have you recorded?  For us in Kona the day started out very nice, then mid day I began to hear thunder rumbling and dark clouds appearing mauka (upslope).  Thunder increased and by late afternoon we were having a deluge at times.  Probably the heaviest rain I've seen here falling in such a short period of time. I recorded 83.5mm (2.5 inches) so far.  The forecast says we can expect continued heavy showers at times thru tomorrow.  Let's see how accurate they are on this one.  I hope it clears out by Friday (Feb. 1) for the HIPS annual BBQ dinner and palm auction in Hilo, which is held outdoors in a big open pavillion.

[bgl]

A couple of brief and heavy showers today, but nothing out of the ordinary. Will check my rain gauge tomorrow morning and see what we have, but as of now it would surprise me if we received more than half an inch, total, during the day. And Friday is a long time from now!

[Wai`anae Steve]

The winds are crazy here and there has been a little rain.  So far nothing in my rain guage which shows nuttin' until it gets over .04".

Hey Al,

 did you see any of that hail that fell on the west side?

  What about that snow down to  10,000 feet on maui  

[bgl]

Rainfall as of 8 a.m. this morning (for the previous 24 hours): 0.67 inches. Nothing to write home about!

And Steve - snow down to the 10,000 ft level on Maui is not exactly impressive either. The summit of Haleakala is at 10,023 ft!!

[bgl]

Well, Al, it got a bit wet last night during the HIPS BBQ but nothing out of the ordinary if you've lived here for a while. Just heard on the 6 o'clock news that Mayor Harry Kim has declared Hilo a disaster area, with the entire Bayfront area under water and all the streets there completely impassable. Waiakea-Uka, a residential area a few miles from downtown Hilo has received 18 inches of rain over the last 24 hours. Interestingly, even though it's been a wet day here in Leilani Estates, we've had nothing like that. Maybe a few inches which is no big deal. Will be interesting to check the rain gauge in the morning, though!

[bgl]

Here's an update. Quite a  bit of rain overnight and we had 4.23 inches as of 8 a.m. (for the previous 24 hours). Definitely on the wet side, but not even close to "real wet"! Many other areas on the windward side have had MUCH more rain, and several major roads are closed.

Here's the front page today of our local newspaper, Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

[bgl]

And I walked down to Malama Street a little while ago to pick up the newspaper, and also walked next door to check on Steve's property ("Steve in San Diego"). Here's a photo taken down Malama Street from right outside Steve's entrance. This is NOT a heavy rain, this is more like a heavy drizzle based on what we're used to! :cool:

[bgl]

And looking in the opposite direction. Our property is on the left with the Phoenix roebelenii and above them a line of Clinsotigma samoense. Our entrance is halfway between the two telephone poles. Our main driveway has a very gentle slope away from the house and towards Malama Street, so when it rains there's a little stream running all the way down the driveway, exiting our driveway and then continuing onto the ditch between the street and our fence. This ditch also has a very gentle slope to it, so the water tends to run in the direction towards where I'm standing.

[bgl]

And Steve, since I'm posting these photos, hope you don't mind this one as well (!?) - your driveway. A bit of water at the upper part (close to the camera), while the part closer to the street where we put 10 tons of filter rock is holding up well.

(Edit - Steve, also took a few photos of your palms. I'll be adding a new thread in Discussing Palms shortly, and you'll see them there! )

[garrin]

Even though I am just few miles from Bo and usually just a bit less rainy, I have recorded over 10 in. of rain here at my home in the last 30 hours.  It's a great blessing in many ways to have such quick-draining volcanic soils here!

[garrin]

In addition to what I reported above, this morning the rain guage which holds 10 inches was overflowing.  It was emptied just before that last post.

[bgl]

I actually had to empty my rain gauge earlier this morning to prevent it from overflowing, but then I checked it again at 8 a.m. (which is the time I always check it), and at that time we ended up with a total of 11.35 inches for the 24 hour period that just ended. That's the most we've EVER had in any 24 hour period since we moved here 12 years ago. Right now it's dry, but the sky is grey with 100% overcast and I'm sure we'll be getting some showers off and on during the day. Hopefully the bulk bulk of the rain has already fallen. We could use a couple of dry days!

[Al in Kona]

At our place in south Kona we had a good steady rain all night long on the 4th and ended up with a little over 2.5".  Certainly nothing like in East Hawaii during the past few days.

[realarch]

Looking at Weather.com, Friday through yesterday Hilo had 26 inches of rain. Pretty incredible. Here's a pic of one of the bridges close to the house taken by a neighbor.

Tim

]

[bgl]

Tim,

That's pretty powerful! Do you know what street that is?

Here's the front page of today's local newspaper. Kamehameha Avenue is mostly under water.

Waiakea Ag Station near Hilo had 46.71 inches over a 72 hour period (see graph on right). We had about 17 inches over the same period here, so I guess in a relative sense we were quite dry!

Bo-Göran

[garrin]

As of this afternoon the heavy, steady downpours have been going again!  We had a respite for a good part of yesterday, but it looks like we are now in for a repeat of the series of days prior to that.  I never though my quick draining lava soils could reach a saturation point, but this evening I am seeing ponding on my property where it has never occurred before.  Speaking of heavy rain though, one day in August several years ago I recorded eleven in. of rain here in just one hour, and seven in. of that came in twenty minutes!!

[realarch]

Bo, I think the shot was taken on Apoke Street which is just around the corner from our house. We have such great neighbors, they checked our house inside and out and said all was ok.

garrin, where abouts are you located ?

Tim

[bgl]

Tim,

Interesting! We have friends who live right around "the corner", on Ainako Street. Have to check to see how they're doing. Even though I know where Garrin lives, I'll let him answer that himself since I don't know how specific he wants to be...

Bo-Göran

Edit - Tim, I'm not all that familiar with Apoke Street but I know exactly where it is, and I know it's a fairly short street and fairly residential in nature (i.e. houses in close proximity on both sides). The street above doesn't fit that description. Looks like it's a bit more remote.

Had another 2.08 inches this morning, which in the big scheme of things is just a couple of heavy showers here!  At our place we've now had 22.29 inches over the last 7 day period. And I just found a tree that had fallen down overnight. This is not a big tree, so damage would have been minimal even if had hit something - which it didn't! It fell right between a couple of Dypsis lanceolata, and also right in between some of my sp. Merlot bromeliads. Here's a photo.

[bgl]

And one more, showing how close it was to the bromeliad.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Hey Bo, is that grass you have the same stuff we have here in SoFla?

[realarch]

Now that I look at that picture, you're right that can't be Apoke. I'll double check that.

Pretty soggy...those red bromeliads are spectacular and that tree couldn't have come any closer. Looks like an Ohia.

Bet your catchment tank is overflowing.

Tim

[bgl]

The grass is Australian carpet grass. Does well in heavy rainfall areas.

It's not an Ohi'a tree, but I forgot the name of this one. Will have to check around. And our catchment tank has been overflowing for a LONG time. Just to give you an idea, for every inch of rain we get, that's roughly 2,000 gallons into the tank, which holds 9,700 gallons/36,715 litres. Our household probably doesn't use up much more than 1,000 gallons or so every month.... So, in the month of December (which was extremely wet of course): 35 inches = 70,000 gallons into a tank that holds 9,700, and out of that we use about 1,000. You do the math...!  What's positively silly is when people build a house here, and you go shopping for toilets. Every single one is, apparently by law, "low flush" in order to save water. Saving water is the LAST thing we have to be concerned about...!

[realarch]

Take longer showers Bo!

[bgl]

Another 8 inches of rain overnight!  This is getting to be routine. We're now up to 29.76 inches for the month of February. And it's only the 8th!!! Our previous all time record for a single month (since we moved here 12 years ago) was 35.84 inches for March 2004. The way things are going that record will be obliterated, big time! :cool:

[realarch]

Bo, I checked on that bridge picture and the street is Akolea, NOT Apoke.

Tim

[DoomsDave]

Ah, rain!

Money in the bank, as it were.

My water bill for January was $19.80.  About one-tenth what it is in the summer time.

The more the better.

Up to a point, of course, like where the house begins to slide down the hill. . . . . .

[Urban Rainforest]

(bgl @ Feb. 03 2008,13:56)

QUOTE

And Steve, since I'm posting these photos, hope you don't mind this one as well (!?) - your driveway. A bit of water at the upper part (close to the camera), while the part closer to the street where we put 10 tons of filter rock is holding up well.

(Edit - Steve, also took a few photos of your palms. I'll be adding a new thread in Discussing Palms shortly, and you'll see them there! )

Bo, I need to check the weather thread more often. The driveway looks great! Is it still pouring there or have the rains let up? Is march a rainy month? Not that it matters , I can plant palms in the rain   . Looking forward to digging into some of that good ol Leilani lava. See ya soon.

Mahalo,

Steve

[garrin]

Sorry, I have not been able to get back to the message board for a few days; someone asked just where I live.  I am just about halfway from Bo's place to Hilo, just off highway 130 a few miles Hilo side of Pahoa.

Garrin

[Walter John]

(garrin @ Feb. 13 2008,04:56)

QUOTE

Sorry, I have not been able to get back to the message board for a few days; someone asked just where I live.  I am just about halfway from Bo's place to Hilo, just off highway 130 a few miles Hilo side of Pahoa.

Garrin

and.........therefore... ???

[bgl]

Steve,

March is, on average,  the second wettest month of the year but you can't just go by statistics. As you know, the weather here can be somewhat unpredictable! As of right now, Feb 2008 is already the second wettest month since we moved here. And we still have another 17 days to go... Just another couple of inches and it will inch out March 2004 as the wettest month (at our location) since 1996! And planting palms in the rain is the best time!

Bo-Göran

[bgl]

Just a little update on a somewhat unusual situation. It looks like this month, February 2008, may end up being the wettest since we moved here, 12 years ago. As of right now, we've had 34.05 inches. That's for the first 16 days of the month. We still have another 13 days to go. The wettest month, prior to this, was March 2004 with 35.84 inches. So, all we need is another 2 inches and we have a record month. And we had that on a slow day at the beginning of the month. BUT, the contradiction is that we are in somewhat of a mini drought right now. During the last 7 days we've "only" had 1.74 inches, with VERY little the last 4 days. Just a couple of brief showers!