Kona Storms In Hawaii

Hawaii is a series of breathtaking tropical islands located in the Pacific Ocean, off the mainland United States. It is blessed with pleasantly warm weather all year long. The only thing one may be able to complain about Hawaii is the phenomena known as the Kona Hawaii which is a period of not-so-pleasant, stormy weather. Kona Hawaii, are the seasonal storms that are resulted from the cold winter winds blowing from the western direction. In Hawaiian, the word “Kona” literally means “direction” (note that it can also mean other things completely unrelated such as “his/ her” in native Hawaiian). Since the phenomenon is a result of the wind blowing from one direction, it is referred to by this name. In fact, the direction from which Kona Hawaii flows is called the Kona district.

The Kona Hawaii weather, usually occurring during the winter (Note that it doesn’t usually snow in most parts of Hawaii, expect in the mountaintops of large islands such as Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa) months of November to April, are characterized by cyclones, heavy rains, flashfloods, land slides and sometimes, hailstorms. Ocean swells which are series of surface gravity waves and waterspouts (columnar vortexes occurring in large inland water bodies) are also seen during Kona Hawaii.

The most powerful Kona storms in the past fifty years occurred in 1980. It lasted for three days, from January 8th to January 11th and caused unusually low pressure, severe weather in the northern parts of the state, causing all airports to cancel flights during the period. The towns of Kailua-Kona and Puako suffered the most damage from that particular Kona Hawaii. The Kona Hawaii storms recorded ever since, were nothing close to this destructive weather pattern over 30 years ago.

When a deep trough of cold low pressure is formed in the Northern parts of the sate, mid-level cyclones are created by the vigorous cut-offs of the air flowing to fill the gaps. This causes winds to shift to the southern direction, also known as the leeward direction/ Kona, as mentioned above. Typically the speed of wind during Kona Hawaii is only about 15 – 25 miles per hour, and even in extreme conditions, like in the case stated above, winds can speed up only to 30 – 40 miles per hour. As you can see, the Kona Hawaii storms move slowly and can take days to pass; hence, the days or weeks of continuously heavy rains.

Most often, one Kona Hawaii weather pattern occurs during the winter months with a couple of highs in rainfalls, but two to five Kona storms per year are not uncommon. It is therefore, best to avoid journeying to Hawaii during the winter months of Kona Hawaii.