Mountain Saviors, Gecko Survivors

[Note: this is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.] 

3/13/21

Aloha Everyone –

I see from the weather reports that some of you are experiencing a thaw. I remember those days, when finally it feels like Spring is coming.  Then we’d get an Ohio ice storm.

Speaking of weather, it’s very likely you’ve seen news reports of the terrible flooding in Hawaii. Nothing makes for a good video than a torrent of rushing water and a flooded street scene.  It is true that this last week brought some real dumpers to the main islands, including us here on Hawai’i.  However, there are important details the reports usually leave out for our island, particularly which side is getting the flooding.  The real downpours and flooding have been almost entirely on the east side, where Hilo is located.  Here in Kona we’ve gotten almost no rain at all.  This is because the storms are coming from the east/southeast, which is the usual trade wind direction, and we’re on the other side of two 13k ft. volcanoes and under the shadow of another that is 8k.  The moisture is usually dumped on the eastern (windward) side and the western (leeward) side is spared.  This is the case for hurricanes, too.  The typical rainfall on the Hilo side is 180-200 inches per year, but on our side it is about 40 inches, depending on exactly where you are.  Bottom line: no rivers flowing through our streets.  Boring video, but reality is actually often boring.  We certainly can get heavy rainfall at times, as I’ve reported, and in fact this morning starting at about 5 am we’ve had about ½ inch. We may have to adjust our usual beach breakfast outing, but this is nothing in comparison to the windward side.

Typical Trade Wind Pattern

Btw, I recently came across a fascinating website that shows a graphical depiction of the current wind patterns in any location, called Windy.com.  It is very useful for seeing the way our islands influence the stream of air passing by. Take a look.

Speaking of boring, we’re almost back to normal after our tenting. Empty food shelves made a good opportunity to clean the cabinets before putting stuff back and before replacing the long-lost-and-forgotten treasures that were discovered and trashed when we bagged everything. That has taken a lot of time and effort, but it’s a nice feeling to know that the house hasn’t been this clean and organized since we moved in.  It won’t last, of course, and a trip to Costco on Wednesday for a big re-provisioning load was certainly a start.  Outside, nearly all the plants are now back to their normal locations around the house and pool, and I’ve fixed my irrigation lines that I had to move out of harm’s way or that got damaged anyway. And after one week I’m pleased to say that some of our favorite outside geckos have started to reappear.  They are slow and look stunned, but they seem to be recovering.  Unfortunately the two geckos above our kitchen sink also survived and so now we’re on the hunt again.  Recall that we don’t tolerate them inside the house, and we catch them and take them far down the street.  This can take time and effort, though, because there are lots of places for them to hide.  (See More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Geckos for a refresher about our little green friends.)

This week we booked flights for our mainland trip, so everything is all set.  It’s definitely exhilarating to once again look forward to traveling!

Ok, that’s it for the week.  Take care and enjoy your Spring.