Flocked isle mountains to get more snow

KAILUA-KONA » Hail rattled parts of Kona and a new blanket of snow covered the summits of Hawaii's three tallest mountains yesterday, and soon the first dusting began to melt off.

The Mauna Kea Weather Center forecast snow flurries and possibly heavy snow today and into tomorrow night on the 13,796-foot mountain.

"It's ugly up there," said Gemini Observatory spokesman Peter Michaud in Hilo after receiving a report from the mountain.

Caroline Maxwell, an interpretive guide at the Visitor Information Station at Hale Pohaku, said hail and snow were falling at the 9,000-foot site about 4 p.m. and she couldn't see the road from the building.

During the morning, near sea level in Kona, a brief but severe thunderstorm moved southward, dropping hail up to the size of a penny on the Kona Palisades subdivision just north of Kailua-Kona.

Palisades resident John Ellis had to run out into it to save his car from damage by smaller pellets of ice ranging from pea-sized to the size of a dime.

"It didn't feel so good when it bopped me on the head," he said.

The day started with a lot more beauty, partially clear skies revealing extensive fields of snow down the sides of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, and Haleakala on Maui.

Haleakala National Park officials said snow reached much lower elevations than normal, down to the 7,000-foot level in the general area where the park headquarters is located.

The beauty proved to be only skin-deep. By late afternoon, park Superintendent Marilyn Parris reported, "Most of the snow is gone."

But the park kept the road to the summit closed, because the same weather pattern was expected today, Parris said.

On the Big Island, Ron Koehler, who is in charge of Mauna Kea Support Services, said just a light dusting of snow will give the impression of deeper coverage when seen from the lowlands. The snow at the summit was only about an inch thick, the National Weather Service said.

The Mauna Kea summit road was closed in the morning, but reopened at noon. Then a new wave of weather rolled in during the afternoon.

Mayor Harry Kim, back at his old job serving as acting head of county Civil Defense, warned about danger. Hiker Brian Murphy, 67, of Michigan, has been missing since being caught in a storm on the mountain Dec. 5.