The wet weather that’s usually expected to arrive in October with the start of the rainy season finally found its way to East Hawaii in early February.
Hilo International Airport had logged 10.99 inches of rain for the month at 8 a.m. Monday. That’s 3/4 of an inch more than the usual rainfall for the entire month of February, and significantly more than the 6.63 inches of rain the airport received in February 2022.
“Hilo airport’s quite a bit above normal for this month. In fact, the 24-hour totals for the last two days at the airport were both higher than the whole January total,” said Kevin Kodama, senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
The airport received 3.07 inches of rain for the 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. Monday, and 3.6 inches for the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Sunday. That’s in contrast to 2.03 inches of rain for all of January.
January’s rainfall total, paltry as it seems, is abundant compared to the 1.2 inches of rain the airport tallied in January 2022.
“Hilo airport was on track to have its driest January on record, but an uptick in Big Island rainfall at the end of the month kept it off the top 10 driest January listing,” Kodama noted.
“Right at the end, the rest of the state got a pretty good soaking. And only a part of the Big Island caught that rain, like up on the Hamakua Coast but only at the lower elevations. And the windward side of the Kohala Mountains got some rain. But the rest of the island really didn’t get a whole lot.”
Perpetually parched Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole, where the sun-drenched tarmac greets visitors seeking a vacation tan, had only 0.03 inches of rain in January, just 2% of its norm of 1.35 inches for January. The airport’s gauge already surpassed that this month, with 0.05 inches — all of that arriving in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Monday.
Elsewhere on the leeward side, there was little significant rainfall either in January or thus far in February, with most locations this month showing zeroes for their daily rainfall tallies.
The rainfall totals on the windward side, however, have been generally abundant this month. Mountain View recorded 14.77 inches as of 8 a.m. Sunday, 3-plus inches more than its usual 11.46 inches for February.
Along the Hamakua Coast, Laupahoehoe has measured 7.81 inches, a quarter-inch more than the 7.53 inches it received for all of February 2022. If the rain continues at its current pace, the North Hilo village is on track to receive 16.82 inches this month, more than 5 inches above its average February of 11.53 inches.
The rain has brought blessed relief in some quarters, especially for those who aren’t connected to the county water system.
“Some of the folks that I’ve heard from, their catchment systems are in much better shape now,” Kodama said.
Gordon Inouye of Puna Flower Power, an orchid grower in Keaau, said his catchment system is “overflowing” — but his crop didn’t leave him the luxury of waiting for the rain to fall.
“We trucked in 10- to 12,000 gallons this month,” said Inouye, who operates with a 40,000-gallon catchment capacity for his greenhouses.
“We go 10 days, two weeks without rain, and we’re out of water,” Inouye said. “We’re planning to build another 20,000 (gallon) storage to give us a little reserve, but, it’s not going to solve all our problems.
“We’re going to need to get a well or a backup source of water, rather than getting it trucked in. It gets expensive. Right now, it’s costing us seven or eight cents a gallon to truck it in.”
The extended forecast on the NWS website for Hilo calls for a 30% to 50% chance of scattered showers today and Wednesday, but an 80% chance of heavy rain starting Thursday and going into the weekend. The extended forecast also calls for a 70% chance of heavy showers starting Thursday night in Kailua-Kona.
“You might get a pretty good drenching, and not just on the Big Island, but other parts of the state,” Kodama said. “It’s a little early to tell how many inches, but it’s looking like it might be a pretty significant rain event.
“There could even be flooding.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
