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I love to see how different folks feel about different temps and rain amounts!
I've lived all over the country, I cannot stand really really hot places. I've lived in New Orleans, Houston, Aransas Pass (near Corpus Christi in Texas) Warrenton Oregon and Alaska. Frankly I've always preferred Oregon, Washington and Alaska as far as people and weather.
Volcano fits that bill for me, but keeps me close enough to the ocean that I don't feel "boxed in".
Seriously though, the commute is gonna be hard on Steve (terracore) to drive to the Hilo Airport for work each day, we are considering living closer down to town for a couple years (while we also have a teenager living with us!) and while we build on our Volcano property.
Are you currently living in Hawaii? When you get here, shoot me an email and I'll show you around our property in Volcano so you can get a feel for the soil (or lack thereof), the rain, the neighborhood, etc. I think it's got a good "feel" about it. And it helps that we're super close to highway 11 without being actually "on" it.
Dayna
www.JasonAndBlue.com
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Dayna Robertson
At Home Hawaii
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I drive to Hilo every day from mid HPP, on the Pahoa side. The drive is really fast and smooth when I leave between 6 and 6:15 AM, at 6:30 isn't too bad, but by 6:35 it can be a whole other story. I am not sure when it eases off again in the morning. Coming home, on the rare occasions I get out by 3 it can be smooth sailing. When I stay late meeting with parents or working with kids it can take me 45 minutes to just get from the turn off for Pahoa to the other side of the merge.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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volcano is ok if you like to be @ 3K' and have to come down to 500' for groceries or anything else. I would imagine you get great gas millage on the way down but going up would stress your car out.
Not to mention the altitude change and the vog.
My first lot I bought was in fern forest ... Then orchidland. Tho your still on catchment and no mail delivery or cable (roadrunner).
To each their own! I prefer a stroll down to the beach and smell the air, see the view of blue and palm trees. That's why I moved to hawaii. My ears can't handle the altitude change that well.
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Looked at one house near Volcano last August. Drizzly driving to the house from Hilo, the ground was soggy,soggy.
I liked Eden Roc but the house I almost bought went off the market. Those lots are one acre.
I live in Nanawale now, been here 5 months and never have felt "hot" (yes, I am a newbie and have not experienced the summer here). Kathy is correct about how quickly you get accustomed to this climate and you begin to get chilled when the temp drops below 70...LOL. The rain is frequent here but seems to be mostly in evening/ night time. December was very, very wet!
I wanted to share with you that a local contractor told me that he likes to set homes from north to south. My house is east to west, length-wise. He mentioned that a north-south house is cooler in summer while E-W house is warmer due to intense sun shining in on the full south side of house. Hope that makes sense and you might keep that in mind when setting your house. He also said the tradewinds blow through the house better N-S. My house gets hot during on a sunny day but I still get wonderful tradewinds on my lanai in the afternoon and I am not by the ocean!
Many on here advised me to rent for a year or so before buying in order to experience the different microclimates. That is a great piece of wisdom to heed. I didn't but I got lucky, too. I love my location to Pahoa, Kapoho, the hot ponds, church.
He who hoots with owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning.
North-south is good!
Small correction tho--in summer the sun shines on the north side at this latitude. South side in winter.
I have been watching my north side shade disappear this last month, and the sun no longer coming in the south facing windows.
But yeah, it's all about letting the trades sweep through. When they quit it is not pleasant.
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For just weather to look at, there are lots more selections, as you go westward to the drier Kona side, there are cooler & dry, and the rain belt coffee areas & desert....and noth to the winds of waimea - dry or wet side - & further to the pastures of the Kohalas...
and tomorrow is lahaina noon in Hilo (12:16pm), were the sun will be overhead & no shadows will follow you! (Saturday in Kona at 12:20pm)
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If you're coming to Hawaii for the warm weather, no way should you consider Volcano or anything else at altitude. IMHO.
Despite what many mainlanders seem to think, it never gets really hot here on the Big Island.
HPP is a good pick if you like sunshine.
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yahseeker - it might be helpful if you say what type of climate you're looking for. There are micro-climates here and someone living a few hundred yards from another can experience different conditions. For instance, hawaiideborah lives fairly close to me (Kaloli Point in HPP) but trade winds near the cliffs doesn't mean you get them a few hundred yards inland - it depends on the topology and even your neighbor's vegetation and location of their house. Also, a mile inland from my location means more rain and less sun than I experience. That's all in the same subdivision.
Then there's what some call a brutal sun and those that love the very same thing! Personally I hate September and October where I am. It gets very hot (generally 3 or 4 degrees higher than Hilo airport when it's sunny), little wind (unless you're by the cliffs) and quite high humidity. Right now I'm wrapped up because I think it's cold but where I grew up and lived for nearly 30 years the current temperature would be considered balmy and the TV weather people would be telling us that sleeping might be difficult tonight!
Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
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Thank you for the kind answers.
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Not surprisingly, my preference for best weather is where I live, and the weather is pretty similar within a 1/2 mile from the coast Kapoho to Kalapana. We don't get the rain of higher up the hill, and get about half of what Hilo gets. The past 3 years of the drought it really feels like it doesn't rain much at all, and it would be nice to get a bit more. It is too hot maybe a few days a year, and then we're talking 85-87 for a few hours. What is worse is when the trades stop, but that's rare too. It can also vary quite a bit depending on if you are in a jungly area like Kehena or more recent lava flow like Seaview and Puna Palisades. Kehena feels too moist and steamy, with the trees blocking much of the winds. It really depends on what you want and what is comfortable for you. I like winter best because the nights are cooler and I sleep better. The change to summer seems to be happening this week, and the heavy covers are probably coming off this weekend.
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