When you want to see the stars, find someplace dark
Exploring the islands
Hurricane Ana brought nothing more than a day of soaking rain to our part of the island. It was the lack of wind that was striking, with the hurricane directly offshore we had calm conditions. There was some flooding and moderate winds along the Kaʻu coast. Not much word on damage, I suspect it was minimal, nothing like what would have happened if the storm had followed the original forecast track.
A new week has begin, time to see what next adventure life will bring…
The evening started as if there was no storm. Partly cloudy skies and a very pretty sunset. There was an odd element… Very hot and muggy, no wind. Bad enough you wanted the hurricane to start just to get the air moving.
Late in the evening the rain started, a soft steady rain that has lasted for several hours now. The storm is bringing a huge mass of moisture over the island. The satellite shows enormous blobs of angry red, you would expect the world to be ending under colors like that. Instead we have soft rain and almost no wind.
Not quite a hurricane… Yet. Ana is expected to reach hurricane status later today. it is an impressive sight in the satellite imagery as it closes on the island. This mornings forecast places the track even further offshore. We will not witness the full force of the storm, but will still experience some effects. While the storm is centered about 250 miles south of us, the outer cloud-bands are already over the island.
It is an interesting life.
Here we go with hurricane two for the season. The forecast continues to put the island of Hawaiʻi directly in the path of the storm. If anything the news is a little worse, with the storm tracking up the west side of the island.
I suspect we will need to take this storm even more seriously than Iselle. Time to put the patio furniture away again, and check around the house for anything loose that may be an issue. Pick a few of my ripe grapefruits as well.
The observatory is reactivating the response plan we had a chance to refine and put into action for hurricane Iselle. Time to batten down the hatches, somewhat literally in the case of the summit facility. We are working on the Keck 1 shutter today, checking the seals and resetting the fully closed position to deal with some leaks.
It is currently snowing on the summit. Not just a dusting this time, but a real blanket of white on the mountain. Poliʻahu has returned to the summit. The forecast is calling for up to three inches of white before tomorrow morning.
We just got word that the Keck summit crew is abandoning the summit. They are leaving before the conditions get worse.
A photo from a UKIRT webcam is below. I would post one from our Keck cameras, but the camera windows are covered with blown snow and ice. I have a new all-weather webcam, a full pan-tilt-zoom unit to install, but it is still sitting in a box at the summit. Personally I am not planning being up until Wednesday, I wonder if the snow will still be there, fresh snow on the mountain is always pretty.
It may look small, but this image is anything but small, click on it to find out. The panorama is assembled from seven frames, with final dimensions of over 12,000 x 2,000 pixels. The version posted here is a bit smaller, only 4,000 pixels wide. While it is a big image it does not really come close to the effect of actually standing there beside the camera. Also missing from the photo? The biting cold wind.
The image includes ten telescopes, two planets, two galaxies, two meteors, four volcanoes, and innumerable stars.
The island is still dealing with the damage wrought by Iselle. The Puna area took much of the damage with power lines down, fallen trees blocking many of the roads and damage to many houses. Fortunately there have been no reports of any deaths due to the storm. There are still thousands of residents without power as utility crews struggle to deal with the mess.
Residents on the west side saw few or no issues from the storm. We had almost no wind and just a little rain. Our precautions were totally unneeded, I guess we will use the water jugs to water the plants out front. Need to put the lanai furniture and barbeque back as well.
Despite our precautions Keck observatory has had issues due to the storm. Several systems suffered damage due to power line disruptions. We lost a motor controller in the K1 dome, I spent all of Saturday helping to replace that. Just as we were finishing repairing the dome the main breaker for the facility failed, leaving us on generator power. Waiting for word from the crew on restoring power. Until it is repaired we are off-sky. Update: Our intrepid day crew has fixed it. Yes, they are that good.
Hurricane Julio has spared the islands completely, tracking well north, far enough that we are clear of its effects. The storm is generating a big northeast swell that has the surfers looking for waves.
Dawn has come with an eerie silence, not a breath of wind. Yesterday afternoon and well into the night the winds ran hard, this morning there is calm. We received no measurable rain, while friends are posting views of Hilo rivers brown and raging. Obviously our internet is still moving bits and the lights still come on when you toggle the switch. The power flickered many times, but did not fail.
The storm is still here, dropping heavy rains on the south end of the island. Later this morning I will join the summit crew for a late departure to the summit and a quick check of the facility. Fill the instruments with cryogens, do a walk around, and not much more.
Hurricane Julio is still forecast to swing north of the island, sparing us the heavy rains and winds, though we may still feel some effect. It will move past the island on Sunday, as we cast wary eyes on the forecast charts. The coming week will bring a return to normalcy and the frantic activities of segment exchange.