08-13-2007, 08:07 AM
Howzit, Y'all...I grew up in hurricane territory (Fla, Alabama, Miss. et al...you know, a military brat!) so I had certain expectations when I moved to Hawaii (1970) about public info put out to help you keep track of such storms.
Since I've been here 37 years, I've been through the hurricane drills here. No one paid any attention to them until Iniki leveled Kauai and a good portion of Oahu. I've spent money and sweat equity in the past taping my big pic windows only to have to scrape the tape off after the storms passed, leaving us with very sunny, very humid weather and no adverse weather to speak of.
When Iwa through, it came from the eastern side of the Pacific towards us, similar to Flossie. It traveled 100 miles south of the Big Island and the only damage on this side of the island was from high waves hitting the house and huge satellite dish that used to be on the property adjacent (just south) of what is now Ahalanui Park (Warm Pond). Hotels (the old Kona Surf) and Alii Drive homes, as well as some boats berthed on the Kona side, sustained substantially more big wave damage. But that was it.
Iniki came out of the southwest Pacific and had already moved between Kauai and Oahu and into the northern Pacific on the morning the forecasters were expecting it to be still southwest of Kauai. That was an El Nino year and that hurricane acted like none other I've ever seen.
Here is a theory that was told to me years ago when I used to worry about approaching hurricanes:
No hurricane has ever directly hit the Big Island. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are the two largest high volcanic mountains in the world and their physical presence BREAKS UP the vertical atmospheric conditions hurricanes need or PUSHES AWAY them away, providing protection from the east-to-west moving storms, not just for the Big Island but also for the smaller islands in the lee of the Big Island (Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Molokai, even part of Oahu).
I have asked Harry Kim (when he was Civil Defense director) and others about this theory and gotten no confirmation of it. But as CD director, Kim always had to plan for the worst possible scenario. So he couldn't go on record as to that theory.
But I've been watching hurricanes take dead aim at the Big Island for 37 years now and ALWAYS veer off so that all we've ever gotten is high waves along the coast, LOTS of rain and super-humid conditions.
But it never hurts to get rid of those albizzia! Take care, Frankie
Since I've been here 37 years, I've been through the hurricane drills here. No one paid any attention to them until Iniki leveled Kauai and a good portion of Oahu. I've spent money and sweat equity in the past taping my big pic windows only to have to scrape the tape off after the storms passed, leaving us with very sunny, very humid weather and no adverse weather to speak of.
When Iwa through, it came from the eastern side of the Pacific towards us, similar to Flossie. It traveled 100 miles south of the Big Island and the only damage on this side of the island was from high waves hitting the house and huge satellite dish that used to be on the property adjacent (just south) of what is now Ahalanui Park (Warm Pond). Hotels (the old Kona Surf) and Alii Drive homes, as well as some boats berthed on the Kona side, sustained substantially more big wave damage. But that was it.
Iniki came out of the southwest Pacific and had already moved between Kauai and Oahu and into the northern Pacific on the morning the forecasters were expecting it to be still southwest of Kauai. That was an El Nino year and that hurricane acted like none other I've ever seen.
Here is a theory that was told to me years ago when I used to worry about approaching hurricanes:
No hurricane has ever directly hit the Big Island. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are the two largest high volcanic mountains in the world and their physical presence BREAKS UP the vertical atmospheric conditions hurricanes need or PUSHES AWAY them away, providing protection from the east-to-west moving storms, not just for the Big Island but also for the smaller islands in the lee of the Big Island (Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Molokai, even part of Oahu).
I have asked Harry Kim (when he was Civil Defense director) and others about this theory and gotten no confirmation of it. But as CD director, Kim always had to plan for the worst possible scenario. So he couldn't go on record as to that theory.
But I've been watching hurricanes take dead aim at the Big Island for 37 years now and ALWAYS veer off so that all we've ever gotten is high waves along the coast, LOTS of rain and super-humid conditions.
But it never hurts to get rid of those albizzia! Take care, Frankie