HELCO is getting better with practice.

[1voyager1]

Iselle had us without power for 6 days and 6 hours.
The Feb 14 wind storm was only 3 days and 3 hours.
It seems that they're getting better at fixing wind damage.

After Iselle, we picked up a generator and sailed through this episode with minor disruptions other than the actual wind damage.
We have been incommunicado, but our life has continued on with plenty of ice and showers.

So, my questions:

1.
By my count, this makes the 4th major wind event since last August:
Iselle, Julio, the winds someone here describes as being caused by a jet stream anomaly, and the Feb 14 affair.

Someone has told us that these wind events are very uncommon, ... usually.
Is that so?

2.
From the link in Frank's post made on the 14th in the "Windy?" thread, and looking at it 3 days later, there seems to be the remnant of what we in Alaska used to call the Pineapple Express, a jet of high winds blowing north from the vicinity of Hawai'i into the underbelly of Southcentral AK bring high winds and heavy rains with it.

What is the official reason given as the cause of Puna's latest wind storm?

[macuu222]

El Nino?

[VancouverIslander]

Iselle took down most of the big Albezia so mostly just the stronger survived it. Most of the trees left could handle the wind this time around.

Just call me Mike

[Opihikaobob]

Geo- engineering , and an attitude of pedal to the metal, and damn the consequences.

[Andrew]

I spoke with a HELCO traffic flow manager as a crew was outside my house a day or so ago and he told me that the island wide damage from this last storm was worse than from Iselle. I though that was strange since Iselle knocked so many trees down. I know the damage from this storm was much more widespread than the Iselle storm. The whole island was affected this time. Also the rebuilding after Iselle was probably slowed by the huge number of trees blocking roads which would slow down repairs.

JMO

[lavalava]

quote:

---

Originally posted by VancouverIslander

Iselle took down most of the big Albezia so mostly just the stronger survived it. Most of the trees left could handle the wind this time around.

Just call me Mike

---

Actually Mike, many of the large Albezia trees that survived Iselle were weakened and the most recent winds were enough to finish them off.

[1voyager1]

quote:

---

Originally posted by lavalava

quote:

---

Originally posted by VancouverIslander

Iselle took down most of the big Albezia so mostly just the stronger survived it. Most of the trees left could handle the wind this time around.

Just call me Mike

---

Actually Mike, many of the large Albezia trees that survived Iselle were weakened and the most recent winds were enough to finish them off.

---

I agree lavalava.
More trees came down in my immediate vicinity this time than Iselle brought down.
Even though the winds were not as strong.
But, they were odd.
They would change direction in seconds as if they were like swirling currents in an eddy.
The winds came mostly out of the SSW to SW.
But the gust that blew my lilikoi trellis down [the one that Iselle didn't even phase] came out of the North.
Iselle's wind directions were predictable, if you knew where the eye was.
This one did not seem as well ordered.

That's why I am curious as to what were the conditions that caused the Valentine's Day wind storm.

[Mimosa]

Kona wind storms such as the 14th Feb come from the west south west and are usually down drafts from the peaks disrupting jet stream so this is what we get,in the last 40 years been relatively calm as far as these types of events,but 50 to 60 year ago,very common yearly in the winter time.We may be going back into this type pattern for the next 10,maybe 15 years .
This current dry spell is minors,should rain again by Merrie Monarch time near around Easter or around March 8th through the 21st.
We have a old family friend who is in her young 70s,she lives near the Canadian border above Albany NY about 90 miles,she says worst winter in 30 years.Deep snow ice of 12 to 25 foot drifts and weeks on end of 30 below zero since new years.She is soon coming here to our farm in Glenwood to thaw and relax for a month or 3.
Mrs.Mimosa

[1voyager1]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mimosa

Kona wind storms such as the 14th Feb come from the west south west and are usually down drafts from the peaks disrupting jet stream so this is what we get,in the last 40 years been relatively calm as far as these types of events,but 50 to 60 year ago,very common yearly in the winter time.We may be going back into this type pattern for the next 10,maybe 15 years .
This current dry spell is minors,should rain again by Merrie Monarch time near around Easter or around March 8th through the 21st.
We have a old family friend who is in her young 70s,she lives near the Canadian border above Albany NY about 90 miles,she says worst winter in 30 years.Deep snow ice of 12 to 25 foot drifts and weeks on end of 30 below zero since new years.She is soon coming here to our farm in Glenwood to thaw and relax for a month or 3.
Mrs.Mimosa

---

M'Lady is from Maine.
All her family is there.
We've been getting reports on the NE's weather.
They sound a little shell shocked.

Then, friends still in AK are experiencing a very warm winter.
Warm in AK and severe in the NE seem to go hand in hand from patterns I've noticed through the last 30 years or so.

Thanks Mimosa for the Kona Wind explanation.
It fits the pattern.
Now,I'll go looking for a cause for the Kona Winds.
That should be easier to work out.

[Ino]

1voyager1 asks "What is the official reason given as the cause of Puna's latest wind storm?"

If you go here this is where the forecaster talk about approaching and departing storms, look at the AFD or area forecast discussion, going down the page there is much more varying amounts of info;
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/data/HFO/

There is a delay here but usually it comes out early the following month;
http://www.weather.gov/peac/Hawaii_Regional_Summary

And if you're real patient in a few months more details will emerge here- the Dec. 2014 edition covers April thru August 2014;
http://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/201412/toc.shtml
Look under marine weather review for your area of interest. When I was a kid this was the paper that got me really interested in the weather. I used to collect them all and read them over and over.

Another place-there are hundreds I'm just giving you the better ones is here-covers Jan. 1950 to Oct. 2014 so there is a lag time for details;
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/

Although this is not official, a simple explanation of what caused our Valentine's Day wind storm is cold air plunging South across the ocean which creates a counter flow of warm air moving North. Weather seeks a balance. You can tell where you are in either air mass (cold plunging South,warm moving North) by the wind direction.

The higher the wind the closer the 2 disagreeing air masses are to each other. Air mass temperature differential determines the strength of the storm. The cold/warm air masses associated with the storm passing by late this week do not have as strong a temperature differential so the winds should be much lighter but will flow in much the same way.

What complicates things are the rotation of the Earth (Coriolis Effect)and imagine a giant block of cold air sliding South across the ocean disrupting all the air in it's path. The air and sea temperatures are modifying the air mass constantly and in different layers (atmospheric heights) -soon it looks like Swiss cheese. Layers of different cold or warm air create the veering wind speeds and directions (unstable) and of course, the topography of the land mass has tremendous effect. In weather circles it's known as Small Islands, Big Wake;
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Wake/
Although the article only talks about trade winds, all winds would encounter similar effects here.

As you can sense I could go on and on but I'll spare you, I hope some of this helps your understanding of weather processes!