09-25-2008, 09:40 AM
I seem to be quite effected by it in lower Puna. Actually, the last couple of months, most people I know have been effected in one way or another. Some people who are very high energy may just feel tired, others, cannot seem to get a breath and vomit mucus. Teary, red eyes, sore throats, and runny noses are common. I have a beeper that transmits all the medic and fire calls on the island. The days I was the sickest, there were emergency calls in abundance, mainly for respiratory distress, patient difficulty breathing, patient not feeling well, and chest pains. Many of these calls were to Puna and Hilo. If you have asthma already, maybe be very careful where you live. I didn#699;t have asthma before, but definitely have something that sure mimics the symptoms now, when the vog is bad. I have heard from a few people that the North part of the island is better.
The strong trades have been off this far south for, it seems years. If we get them, for the most part, they are not strong enough to really push the huge cloud of vog away. I have been in Honolulu and could barely stand up because of the strong trades, but at the same time, here - nada. According to the National Park Service, the SO2 is most concentrated closest to the vents. By the time the vog gets to Kona it is a lot of particulate and the SO2 is mostly gone or converted into something else. By far, though, Ka‘u has it the worst.
One other thing I have noticed happening. Sometimes the high clouds will be coming from the East, Southeast or Northeast and the surface winds are strongly from the West or the Southwest. This could be blowing the vog back around this way.
The strong trades have been off this far south for, it seems years. If we get them, for the most part, they are not strong enough to really push the huge cloud of vog away. I have been in Honolulu and could barely stand up because of the strong trades, but at the same time, here - nada. According to the National Park Service, the SO2 is most concentrated closest to the vents. By the time the vog gets to Kona it is a lot of particulate and the SO2 is mostly gone or converted into something else. By far, though, Ka‘u has it the worst.
One other thing I have noticed happening. Sometimes the high clouds will be coming from the East, Southeast or Northeast and the surface winds are strongly from the West or the Southwest. This could be blowing the vog back around this way.