01-22-2007, 06:16 AM
Glen, On ave. east Hawaii gets more rain at night than during the day (with 10am -2 pm the ave driest hours). this area gets heavy rains & droughts, but the ave daily rain spread over the year is a little less than 1/2 per day. But these are averages. The highest 24 hour rain in Hilo is 21 inches (it was over 2 days) and there are droughts of weeks to months. You can have a period of no rain for 4 weeks followed by 4 weeks of daily one inch rain & still make that average. In the almost 2 years I have been here the highest daily rain was 9 inches & longest time with no rain was 4 weeks. The most common daily rain is less than 1/4 in. in our cheapie rain gauge. Most of the rain is at night, but there are the dreary one week rains, esp. when a front comes through. There are many days where it rains at my house & the papaya fields that are a couple of blocks away get none. We stayed near Kaloli Pt. in 2005, it is drier than most of East Puna, but you still can get those storm fronts. I strongly recommend getting the "Atlas of Hawaii" by J. & S. Juvik, pub. by Univ. of Hawaii Press. This is an award winning book that covers many of the climate & geological questions. I was able to find this book at my local college library before moving here, but it is also available online & through the University.
Wheather the weather on this side is right for you depends a lot on you. DO you mind rain? Will that stop your activities. Most rain here is not the driving, wind blown stuff of the east coast & mid west. I never used an umbrella much in the Chicago area because of their habit of turning inside out in most of the rains there. Here, they are used, some months it seems like daily, but most of the daily type rains are passing clouds, & that makes for a lot of rainbows. This is a place where it often rains on one side of the street, but not on the other. (the sides do change, so it doesn't pay to look for the 'sunny side of the street').
I don't think your dog will mind the rain, our cat often sits on our drive in the middle of a rain...but that might be more of having a slightly off cat.
Aloha, Carey
Wheather the weather on this side is right for you depends a lot on you. DO you mind rain? Will that stop your activities. Most rain here is not the driving, wind blown stuff of the east coast & mid west. I never used an umbrella much in the Chicago area because of their habit of turning inside out in most of the rains there. Here, they are used, some months it seems like daily, but most of the daily type rains are passing clouds, & that makes for a lot of rainbows. This is a place where it often rains on one side of the street, but not on the other. (the sides do change, so it doesn't pay to look for the 'sunny side of the street').
I don't think your dog will mind the rain, our cat often sits on our drive in the middle of a rain...but that might be more of having a slightly off cat.
Aloha, Carey