106 Inches - 9 Feet - of Rain in Hawaii!
Credit to Ken Clark (PREMIUM | PRO) for pointing out this NWS statement listing the extreme 1-month rainfall totals (those over 40 inches shown below):
MOUNT WAIALEALE, HI: 106.08" (17.94" in 24 Hours)
POAMOHO, HI: 63.36"
WAIAKEA UKA, HI: 43.64"
GLENWOOD, HI: 42.86"
The Doppler-Estimated precipitation image of the "big island" below shows over 6 inches of rain in 4 days, but as I said yesterday, it may be inaccurate due to mountains, which can exaggerate the rain accumulation, or mountain "shadows" which can miss rainfall.
AccuWeather.com's Ken Clark (PREMIUM | PRO) says of the event:
And as you can see on the J-Cam, I'm wearing a Hawaiian shirt today in celebration of these potentially record-breaking amounts.
Well, the amounts sound impressive, but we have to keep our heads and check Chris Burt's Book "Extreme Weather", a comprehensive guide to which I frequently refer.
We have to remember that Mount Waialeale typically receives 460" of rain per year, and its 24-Hour amount of 17.94", while impressive, is no where near the U.S. record of 43" at Alvin, TX in 1979 or world record of nearly 74" at Cilaos, Reunion Island in 1952. And even 106 inches in a month is far shy of the 366 inches received in one month at Cherrapungi, India in 1861. It is however, just shy of the U.S. record of 107 inches at Kukui, HI set in 1902.* Technically it still might be possible -- the NWS statement covers only 26 days, but because of February, "one month" may be defined as less than it normally would. Still, that leaves the rest of the week for Mount Waialeale to rack up additional precip and beat the 107" record.
HAWAII RADAR AT 10:45 AM (LIVE | PREMIUM | PRO)
And also as I said yesterday, the deluge is expected to continue through the weekend. AccuWeather.com's Paul Yeager has a detailed discussion (PREMIUM | PRO) in his blog about the causes of the flooding, and how much longer it will continue.
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Paul Yeager (PREMIUM | PRO)
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