Hilo/Eastside - Plan ahead or last minute for end of Feb trip? (Volcano: fit in, houses)

[uday029]

Hello,

We are arriving in BI towards end of February 2020 and have 8 days to spend. I understand that it rains a lot on the east side, specially in end of Feb/early March. Ideally we would like to spend couple of nights on the east side when its not raining. We would love to explore Volcanoes National Park when its not raining. Would you recommend to book accommodations on the west side for all 8 days and then plan a last minute 2 night trip to east side based on the weather? We do not mind spending a few extra dollars if we can get rain free days. We were planning to book a cheap private room on Airbnb. Or would it be difficult to find last minute accommodations during that time of the year? If we should plan ahead then we were planning to head to the east side for the first two nights then stay the rest of the time on the west side.

What would you guys recommend? Thanks.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by uday029

We would love to explore Volcanoes National Park when its not raining. Would you recommend to book accommodations on the west side for all 8 days and then plan a last minute 2 night trip to east side based on the weather?

What would you guys recommend? Thanks.

I think you need to reset your expectations on the rain - as in, expect it will rain, and it will be a bonus if it isn't. I'd just book whatever nights you want on the East side and you'll see how it unfolds. You'll likely be less stressed about it - and unless it is a major storm (like today), you'll get through it fine if it does rain.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

The weather forecasts are useless, especially for the Big Island. Sometimes watching the radar helps, but not always. Even in my neighborhood, there are various microclimes (is that a word?), and so a forecast for "Naalehu" means nothing.

The entrance to the park is at 4,000' in elevation, so more chance for bad weather. As you drive down Chain of Craters Road you go down in elevation. Which means rain at the entrance doesn't mean rain for the whole park.

[hotzcatz]

"Rain" in Hawaii can mean a ten minute shower and then sunny the rest of the day. Or a sunny day interspersed with ten minute showers. Or, the whole day can be covered in rain, it's so variable they need more than one word to describe Hawaii rain. I've seen rain on one half of the street and no rain on the other, the stuff can be very site specific. Hmm, somewhat reminiscent of cell phone coverage? Wonder if the two are related?

If it does rain, it's not a cold nasty rain and a lot of folks don't even bother with an umbrella. I'm not even sure if many folks own a raincoat, I don't. We were at the beach yesterday and it was raining so we tucked up our beach stuff and went swimming until the rain stopped in about fifteen minutes.

If you're military, check into Kilauea Military Camp, that's right in Volcanoes National Park and they have some nice cabin type houses you can rent. They have an even less expensive bunkhouse type arrangement, although I think they sort folks by gender in that style of accommodation.

[Arktikos]

I expect that you could find accomodations
last minute at that time of year, so not a bad idea. The problem would be figuring out best days to visit East side based upon weather forecasts, given your lack of knowledge regarding windward Hawaii weather and somewhat unreliable forecasts. Less than 50 pct chance of showers would probably be OK. Read the forecast discussion too.y If winds blowing trades-NE or E-you would most likely have some showers, though most likely at night and early mornings.
Who knows, after being in a dry environment for several days a bit of rain could be welcome.

[uday029]

Thank you all.

[steiconi]

Bring one of those cheap plastic ponchos that fit in your pocket. Small, lightweight, keeps you dry but not too hot.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

The weather forecasts are useless, especially for the Big Island. Sometimes watching the radar helps, but not always. Even in my neighborhood, there are various microclimes (is that a word?), and so a forecast for "Naalehu" means nothing.

The entrance to the park is at 4,000' in elevation, so more chance for bad weather. As you drive down Chain of Craters Road you go down in elevation. Which means rain at the entrance doesn't mean rain for the whole park.

One trick to deciphering the useless forecasts is to look at the forecast accumulation. For example if you are looking at a 10-day forecast it will likely show rain all 10 days, just immediately dismiss the last 7 days as nonsense because that's what it is, but for the first 3 look at the expected accumulation. If it shows .25 inches or more of accumulation it is probably going to rain on and off all day but if it shows substantially less than that it could mean nothing more than a quick shower and that might not even be during the day- it could be sunny all day long with a "rain" forecast.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by terracore

One trick to deciphering the useless forecasts is to look at the forecast accumulation. For example if you are looking at a 10-day forecast it will likely show rain all 10 days, just immediately dismiss the last 7 days as nonsense because that's what it is, but for the first 3 look at the expected accumulation. If it shows .25 inches or more of accumulation it is probably going to rain on and off all day but if it shows substantially less than that it could mean nothing more than a quick shower and that might not even be during the day- it could be sunny all day long with a "rain" forecast.

For where I live off of South Point Road, forecasts are useless. Too many ridges and other formations that cause the weather patterns to change. Most of the time the weather people on the evening news just predict windward and mauka rain.

We have friends just up the road who get twice the rain we do. Even when we look at the real-time radar, it still is meaningless. Many times we say "oh, look, it's raining on us" when we have clear blue skies. It becomes a local joke.

[arizz1]

Like a lot of the other's have said, Showers can be short 5-10 minutes or longer. If your planning to be there for 8 days, get the week pass for Volcano Natl Park. We were able to go twice once during the day (rainy weather) 2nd was late afternoon, early evening. (We were there Jan 2017) the lava level was at its highest. I can also recommend a Great B&B in Pahoa.
we stayed for 2 weeks and loved it. You need to call and make reservations to be on the safe side.