01-13-2015, 11:41 AM
If you talk to anyone who lives in Puna and works in Hilo, they will probably tell you how much worse the VOG and smoke are in Hilo right now. That may change if we get good trade winds back, but as it stands now, the worst of it blows straight into Hilo, especially the neighborhoods up mauka like Kaumnana, it just piles up against the hills there. I think Hilo may be good as far as avoiding getting stuck behind a wall of lava, but if you are looking for escape from VOG and smoke Hilo is not going to be the place to go. Ka'u is going to be the new Puna, people looking for affordable Paradise are going to buy in HOVE and Ranchos, the realtors there are already using "affordable Paradise" in their advertising.