Consider this: We are having the hottest summer than anyone can remember with high humidity and day after day of temps in the 90’s. We have had flood alerts with localized flooding almost every day for a week. (everyone is now tired of these: The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning for the Island of Hawaii effective until 7:45 this evening. Hualalai Road and Kuakini Highway are closed due to flooding)
Downtown Kona was swamped on Tuesday with rain coming in at 3-4 inches per hour. My friend Fern, who lives in Holualoa has had 42 inches of rain in the past month, where the ANNUAL rainfall total should be 52 inches. We had a tsunami alert yesterday from the devastating earthquake in Chile when an 8.3 earthquake struck setting off an tsunami alert that was finally cancelled this morning…just in time
for a VOLCANO alert today saying that mighty Mauna Loa has increased its seismic activity and now is on a “watch”. And this just in, Puna had a 3.8 earthquake today. Did I mention the three major hurricanes that menaced the island in August this year, too? There is a Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times”.
Although, personally, I am having one heck of a summer with the heat, I am remaining positive and I am letting my friend sum it up from the viewpoint of a resident who has lived here for almost a year:
“Ok, at this point, I have to say this is kind of cool because it’s just so unimaginable to me. I think I reached the tipping point: excessive rain, frequent flash flooding, tsunami advisory,
now a volcano is on advisory status. This is Island life, and this is what happens. I’ll embrace it!”
If you want to see that I am not making this stuff up:
[vimeo 139646320 w=500 h=281]
Holualoa flash floods September 16 2015 from Lance Owens (RS) on Vimeo.
Driving just north of Holualoa Village I came across this flash flood. I have driven this road for 15 years and never seen water in it – today was a different story!
Hurricane Jimena which started the blocking of trade winds bringing record heat to West Hawaii
Watch here for how close Jimena got to the Hawaiian Islands
Watch here for torrents of flood waters coming off of Holualoa
Watch here for our family filming the flood waters coming into Keauhou Bay
Watch here for the tsunami surge hitting Hilo today
The E Komo Sign at the Sheraton Kona Resort
Lightning at the Fairmont Orchid during the luminary release for Hospice of North Kona event.
Another positive note..the opportunity for interesting photos has made quite a few of us enjoy capturing sunsets, lightning and flooding!
What has your experience been this summer? Join me in the comments below!
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Great post, we are leaving today to go back home but despite the interesting times, nothing has got in our way. We had a great vacation.
We lived in Kona, but left 12 yrs. ago. We still have friends who live there, and will always have Hawaii in our hearts. Look forward to your site, keeping in touch with Kona.
We spent a week there a week ago and yes,it was very hot and humid,not to mention seeing a lot of water and a power outage! Would love to visit without so much humidity!
Brutal humidity! I finally got my air conditioning in my car fixed because I could not take sweating in my car all over Kona anymore! Seems as if it is FINALLY breaking now!
We spent a week there a week ago and yes,it was very hot and humid,not to mention seeing a lot of water and a power outage! Would love to visit without so much humidity!
Brutal humidity! I finally got my air conditioning in my car fixed because I could not take sweating in my car all over Kona anymore! Seems as if it is FINALLY breaking now!
We were in Keauhou at a rental on 270 Manukai St. from Sept 11-19. Yes, so much more heat and humidity + rain than our previous visit in Aug 2014. Everyone told us it was the worst they could remember. We are moving to Kona (from No. CA) in November and building a house in Bayview Estates. We landed a rental in Keauhou Palena, so maybe see you around. Your blog and others influenced our decision to move to the BI and Kona/Keauhou in particular. It’s something we’ve been planning for 2+ yrs, and hopefully doing the diligent research. But, we hope it’s a bit cooler on Nov 11 when we get off the plane at KOA.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Larry! You will find its warmer in Keauhou than most other places near the water vs up the hill a bit. Congrats on buying in the Bayview Estates area! November 11 is around the time everyone thinks the heat will break. I DO hope so, too!
We were in Keauhou at a rental on 270 Manukai St. from Sept 11-19. Yes, so much more heat and humidity + rain than our previous visit in Aug 2014. Everyone told us it was the worst they could remember. We are moving to Kona (from No. CA) in November and building a house in Bayview Estates. We landed a rental in Keauhou Palena, so maybe see you around. Your blog and others influenced our decision to move to the BI and Kona/Keauhou in particular. It’s something we’ve been planning for 2+ yrs, and hopefully doing the diligent research. But, we hope it’s a bit cooler on Nov 11 when we get off the plane at KOA.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Larry! You will find its warmer in Keauhou than most other places near the water vs up the hill a bit. Congrats on buying in the Bayview Estates area! November 11 is around the time everyone thinks the heat will break. I DO hope so, too!