Kona Winds are blowing

And that seems to mean rain. Torrents of rain. Buckets of rain. Typically, the islands are blessed with lots of "trade winds" from the north and northeast, but every now and again the wind comes from the south, kona winds. This week, we experienced what that can mean. Who knew what a difference a directional change would make.

Hey, does that have a deeper philosophical meaning or what?

See, on these islands out here in the middle of the ocean, the weather is different depending on where you are on the island, and apparently, on which way the wind blows. To the leeward of the mountains, the weather is hot and dry. Windward of the mountains you'll find the area green and breezy. When the prevailing winds come from the opposite direction-- everything changes. Leeward becomes windward and up is pretty much down. As in flash floods, mud slides and downpours. Cosmic, huh? In fact, a few years ago the Kona winds brought 41 days and 41 nights of rain.

This time, it seems to be a little less biblical, but still, I've never seen a day like this past Thursday. Kona is the new nor'easter in my book, even though they're actually sou'wester.

Even so, we did venture out in the evening to make sure the insurance papers were faxed for the condo we just bought. It would be just my luck to wait to fax until the morning and discover that a hillside had slid into the living room the night before. There's no need to give an insurance company any excuse not to pay a claim and a day-late fax is a pretty good excuse.

As it turns out, the hillside is still where it's supposed to be, thank goodness. Digging out from a mudslide is pretty different from digging out from a blizzard. At least the snow usually has the decency to stay outside where it belongs. Mud and water are not nearly so considerate. It's kind of like the difference between dogs and cats; one can be trained, the other goes wherever it pleases.