Time warp 2

Of course, there is a reason that Hilo is in a time warp and it can be summed up with one word: rain.

Before I launch into this exploration of Hilo rain, I want to give my foreign readers (and, yes, I swear I have some!) this conversion: 1 inch of rain = 2.5 cm of rain.

Hilo (population 45,000, average rainfall 126 inches/year) is, arguably, the rainiest city in America. The people who will argue with you are Alaskans. They say that title belongs to Ketchikan (population 14,700; average rainfall 150"?). Or Cordova (population 2,500; average rainfall 160"?). Or Yakutat (population 550, average rainfall 132"). I put questions marks on Ketchikan's and Cordova’s rainfall totals because they aren’t official U.S. weather service statistics and are quite suspect. Yakutat’s gauge, on the other hand, is an official one and they edge out Hilo’s for the rainiest “city” if you can call a population of 550 a city. But, the Hilo gauge is at one of the driest spots in the city – at the airport, which is near sea-level. Upslope in Hilo, the rain gauges average to closer to 200 inches a year. This chart is helpful in understanding Big Island rain patterns. (Click on it if you want to see the map larger.)



But, the thing is – it really, really varies. Here is a link to a summary Hilo’s rainfall totals. (Actually, this link takes you to the main page. Scroll down the left side to the Precipitation section and hit monthly totals.) Check out 2008. Unless something big happens soon, the totals will be well under normal. But, take a look at February: 39" in that short month. But - get this - 31" of that total fell in a 30 hour period!

As all Hilo folks know, most of the heavy rain falls at night (unless there is a storm in which the rainfall is constant and unrelenting as it was in that February storm.) There can be, say, .5" of rain on a particular day and yet, during the day, it is really warm and sunny. This happens with great frequency here. While we have had about 14" of rain in the period that we have been here, the vast majority has fallen at night. It has just been fabulous, actually.

Anyway, the rain scares off lots of people, keeping the town quaint and sleepy. My next post features one such scared-off resident. Perhaps the Hilo rain changed American history! Stay tuned.