Why does it rain so much more in Kauai than on the other islands? They're not that far apart.

-- Judye Briggs (bossie1@airmail.net), January 25, 1999

Answers

Response to Kauai

Each island has a wet side. It just so happens that Kauai has the wetest spot on earth with a little over 40 feet of rain a year.

It rains everyday in Hawaii and you can see a rainbow if you go where it's raining. That's the key as it may be pouring on the windward side of a island, but sunny without a cloud in the sky on the leeward side of the same island.

It rains more inland than towards the ocean. There could be an average rainfall of 25" at the shore and 250"+ on the slopes of the mountains. On the island of Maui, the average rainfall for Lahaina is 17" and seven miles away in mountains, Mt Puu Kukui gets close to 40 feet per year.

-- Steven Helton (shelt@lava.net), January 25, 1999.