Ash Fall, A Kona Low, Med Woes, On The Road Again

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.

3/14/26

 

Aloha Everyone!

 

Petulant Pele reminded us this week that she has the power to mess things up for us.  Episode 43

Note Tephra Cloud

occurred on Tuesday, starting at about 9:30 and ending early evening after about 9 hours. This wasn't the biggest eruption but it was one of the most problematic. Would-be viewers were stymied because the park was closed for much of the time due to tephra fall (volcanic ash and rocks) at the observation sites and even in nearby communities.  This dangerous situation was caused by something called a "Kona Low" (see below) that made the winds blow the ash and hunks of lava in an unusual direction.  Here's the official description by the volcanologists:  "This eruption was comparable in size to episodes 41 and 42, but due to light winds produced tephra fallout similar to but not as great as episode 41.  The plume sent tephra falling within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park along the north rim of Kaluapele (Kīlauea caldera) and into adjacent communities.  The heaviest tephra fall was recorded at Uēkahuna overlook (about 4-7 inches of accumulation) where 2-inch tephra began falling at around 10:20 a.m. HST and Kīlauea Military Camp (about 2 inches of accumulation) where 4-5 inch tephra fell starting at about 10:20 a.m. HST.  The Volcano Golf Course community was hardest hit with a blanket of tephra with pieces up to several inches in diameter." 

Start Shoveling

Imagine what this would due to your car -- or your head, for that matter. Of course the visuals of this made for great spots in the national news, giving the false impression that the whole island was blowing up. All this activity occurred over 90 miles from our house and posed no danger to us. Still, it made things difficult for people trying to reach the other side of our island because he tephra fall even closed the  highway near the volcano for a time.  This was very problematic, because there is only one road that circles the island so that the closest spot to get from one side to the other from the closed section was over 100 miles away.  The whole thing illustrates human vulnerability to nature's whims.

 

Sticking with the nature theme. this week I also learned and new meteorological term -- "Kona Low."  This is a condition in which a a low pressure area occurs on the leeward side  (i.e., Kona) of the islands either to the northwest (this one) or southwest, bringing winds along our coast.  The more normal pattern is for trade winds from the northeast to hit the windward side.  The positive effect for us is that leeward winds clear out our vog and keep it from accumulating along our coast.  However, this Kona Low was accompanied by a humongous rain system that has resulted in several days of cloudy and rainy weather, including some serious flooding on the northern islands.  We didn't have it as bad as other places, bu we've had an unprecedented string of cloudy days with near constant light rain and some very strong blustery winds that so far haven't done serious damage but have deposited a lot of junk in our pool.  This is expected to continue today, tomorrow, and even into Monday.  Sheesh!   Again, nature is ultimately in control, a lesson that is commonly driven home on the mainland, but holds here as well.

 

A couple of items in the Geezer Gazette are worth mentioning.  Late last week the side effects of the temporary anti-arrhythmic medication I've been taking got very severe.  My heart rate dropped into the 30's and low 40's and I felt like warmed over death: fatigue, muscle weakness, dizzy. I made a unilateral decision to cut way back on my routine heart rate medication and to stop the anti-arrhythmic stuff altogether (about a week early from the surgeon's prescription).  I contacted the surgeon's office and gave them my self-monitoring data and described my subjective symptoms.  A couple of days later I got a call from the surgeon's assistant with the recommendation that I cut way back on my routine heart rate medication and to stop the anti-arrhythmic stuff altogether -- in other words, my unilateral decision was vindicated.  It's now been about a week since these adjustments and I feel a tense better, but the anti-arrhythmic medication is very long lasting, so it will take more time before the side effects lift significantly.  I'm hoping that I can still do some of the more strenuous things we had planned for the trip, but I may have to tone them down.  We leave mid-week so feeling great may be a bit of a stretch.  I think I can still do the trip, though, and I'm really looking forward to being on the road again....

 

Ok, that's it for the week.  This will be my last missive until we return in April, so I leave you with this thought:  when the kernel of truth is removed from propaganda, only lies are left.

 

Carpe Vitam!