Late yesterday Hurricane Lane fell apart. It seems that once the storm emerged from the lee of the Big Island’s two 14,000-foot peaks, strong trade winds lopped off its top and it lost its circular organization — for which we are abundantly grateful!

We’ve still got gray skies in Kula, but no rain or wind so far today. We never did get hit with any heavy downpours. It was the windward side of the island that suffered most from rain, and the west side that endured winds which drove the flames of more than one brushfire.

It’s possible more rain could fall, but it seems the worst is past, and I’ve started cleaning up the deadfall in the yard and have put my potted plants back out. Mosquitoes have emerged in swarms! Right now, a little wind would be welcome.

I really hope this is Hawaii’s only troublesome hurricane this year, but the season runs through November, so the potential for more “excitement” remains — and with global warming, the hurricane threat will become ever more frequent. John Barnes’s novel Mother of Storms is often on my mind.

Ron and I live on Maui, so we’ve been preparing for Hurricane Lane since the beginning of the week when we returned from San Jose.

Earlier in the week, Lane was a category five hurricane. This morning it’s a category two — definitely an improvement but still dangerous — and it’s moving with excruciating slowness. We originally expected the worst effects Thursday, then Friday, now Saturday. The predicted track shows it taking a westward turn before making landfall. We are hoping it turns sooner than expected! Unfortunately, it could also continue farther north than the track shows and if so, that could be a big problem for us.

So far, we’re fine. Here in Kula we’ve had intermittent rain and periods of very strong winds. Trees have been dropping dead branches, and this year’s paltry avocado crop is mostly on the ground. Other parts of the island have seen much worse, and a large brush fire was burning on the Lahaina side last night. A hearty thank you to Maui’s fire and police for all their hard work, and thanks also to Maui Electric and Spectrum cable for keeping the grid going.

Here’s hoping things get better, not worse!