Wet weeks encourage biblical allusions
Forty days and 40 nights.
If rain falls out of the sky tomorrow, it may be almost appropriate to speak of Hawaii's rains in biblical proportions. And considering what has happened for 39 straight days, don't count on the sun coming out tomorrow.
Or today, for that matter. The National Weather Service has predicted a wet day for the entire state, with some of the heaviest rains expected to fall tonight. The possibility of heavy showers and thunderstorms is expected to continue through tomorrow.
"Right now we're locked into this wet weather pattern," said meteorologist Derek Wroe of the National Weather Service.
The sun did come out over the Big Island yesterday, while rain continued to fall through the rest of the state.
An area of low pressure at the surface and upper levels of the atmosphere, which has stalled just west of the islands, is to blame.
"It's been fairly persistent for the last several weeks," Wroe said. "It's the big weather-maker. As soon as it weakens, it gets reinforced."
The weather-maker has been busy. "For pretty much the last 38 days, there was significant rainfall going on somewhere in the state," Wroe said.
Hawaii is not known for these heavy, unrelenting rains.
"It's already the wettest month ever for Mount Waialeale on Kauai," Wroe said. Several other places around the state have broken March rainfall records as well.
This year's winter was one of extremes, with extended periods of dry and wet weather.
Yesterday the rain may have been responsible for triggering civil defense sirens in two locations, prompting numerous calls to Oahu Civil Defense.
The siren in Kalaeloa near the Coast Guard station went off at 3:40 p.m. Oahu Civil Defense sent tones to cancel it, setting off the siren in Keolu Hills above Enchanted Lake two minutes later, said Harold Buckle, Oahu Civil Defense communications officer.
Civil Defense sent a cancel tone for Keolu Hills at 3:55 p.m.
Water or geckos are the likely cause, but the sirens can't be checked in the rain, he said.
