Kona Low Windstorm 2026 or "We thought you was a toad."

     This week climate change to the leeward side of the Big Island.  We here in Kona are protected from many of the wind and rain storms that ravage the Hilo side and much of Maui and Oahu, including Honolulu.  This week, however, the dear good Lord, who now wears the mantle of climate change, brought us into the picture. 

Jennifer Robbins says, "I told you it was coming."

 

     Recently we had some work done on the palm tree outside our kitchen window.  A monstera had grown up and up in such a way that 30 feet from the ground it was resting its leaves on our roof.  Well, you can't have that!  And so, we got our beloved gardener, Felix Henandez (no known relation to the Mariners former ace), to come and take care of those giant leaves.  He did a thorough job, removing about ten feet of monstera trunk from the palm tree.  His wife, Linda, and I carried about 300 pounds of trunks and leaves from down in the garden and up to the truck. 

Rhinella marina, the Cane Toad, enjoys the storm

    A week later came the first wave of the Kona low.  It was a wind storm from the south, sporting gusts in the 40 mph range.  As it turned out, Felix had destabilized the monstera in such a way that it dropped another 200 pounds of trunks and leaves, which the following morning I hauled up to our carport, cut to size and fitted into yard debris barrels.  

   That afternoon the real storm, the one Jennifer Robbins at KHNL had been threatening us with, roared in from the south.  Over a few hours we had 65 mph gusts and 7 inches of rain.  This combination was unprecedented.  Storms from the south are so rare that most people here leave their south facing windows open all the time.  We weren't the only ones who, while watching the rain blow sideways, suddenly realized that it was blowing through those windows into the house.  As soon as we realized what was going on, we got those windows closed wiki wiki.

    There was some sporadic flooding around Kona and the night club above the ABC store in the village had its roof blown off, but mostly we were OK.  By contrast, the people in Pahoa, the wild west town outside Hilo, just got their electricity back yesterday.  

Mr. Toad.  I remember him Horatio. An amphibian of charm and wit.

    It may seem like a trivial aside, but back in the lower 48 March is Spring Break.  Undoubtedly, there are scores of young families hunkered down, watching it rain, and muttering dire epithets against Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays.  

     And don't think the storm was an isolated bit of bad weather.  It has continued to rain, and all the beaches are closed for what is somewhat euphemistically called brown water.

    The following morning it was time to clean up.  We lost two palm trees (luckily, they didn't fall on the house.)  In the process of gathering leaves and fronds down in the garden, I spotted a toad sitting quietly under a succulent.  Because this is the dry side of the island, we don't see toads very often, so this was a real treat for me.  Yesterday, as I was sawing a fallen palm tree, I spotted the toad in exactly the same place.  Things were a bit more under control, so I hauled up a load of palm trunk and returned with the camera.  I hope you enjoy my pictures of Mr. Toad.  

    This is the Cane Toad, Rhinella marina.   Until recently it went by Bufo marinus, but the guys at the Journal of Toads and Newts, in an attempt to justify their phony baloney jobs, had to change the scientific name.  The Cane Toad was introduced to Oahu from Puerto Rico in 1932 in an attempt to provide a predator for a beetle that was attacking the sugar cane.  As it turned out, the toad was very successful and ate everything except the beetle.  It now supplies a charming garden presence on all the major islands.

If only it were that simple.

   In a similar manner, we acquired barn owls and mongooses.  And guess what...we still have rats!

   Personally, I think the toad is quite handsome and I wish we had more.  Pet owners, however, don't feel the same.  When endangered, the toad secretes a toxic substance from a gland behind the eye.  Bufotoxin is poisonous to cats, dogs and even humans that are stupid enough to handle the toad.  It can make you sick, cause seizures and even death.  Perhaps I should send one or two to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  If I dress it up like a Russian supermodel perhaps my nemesis will give it a smooch and succumb.  If only it were that simple. (Sigh.)

   No article about toads, at least here at the Kona Beach Blog, will pass without a mention of Delbert, a charmingly simple fellow, with a penchant for robbing Piggly Wigglies.  In Oh Brother ,Where Art Thou, he memorably whispers to his friend Pete, "We thought you was a Toad."  They're in a movie theater in Mississippi, Pete has been reincarnated after vanishing at the hands of the Sirens, leaving a leopard frog hopping in his work shirt on the banks of a stream.  If you haven't seen O Brother..., I insist that you watch this movie right away.  

    And in the meantime, leave the toad kissing to the experts on Pennsylvania Avenue.

jeff