Mount Wai‘ale‘ale (Hawaiian for "rippling waters"), elevation 5,208 ft (1,578 m), is the second highest point on the island of Kaua‘i in the Hawaiian Islands. Averaging more than 460 inches (11,680 mm) of rain over the last 32 years, with a record 683 inches (17,340 mm) in 1982, its summit is considered one of the rainiest spots on earth. (It has been promoted in tourist literature for many years as the wettest spot, but 38-year averages at Mawsynram, India records 11,873 mm (467.4 inches) over a period of 39 years.)

Several factors give the summit of Wai‘ale‘ale more potential to create precipitation than the rest of the island chain:

1. Its northern position relative to the main Hawaiian Islands provides more exposure to frontal systems that bring rain during the winter.
2. It has a relatively round and regular conical shape, exposing all sides of its peak to winds and the moisture that they carry.
3. Its peak lies just below the so-called trade wind inversion layer of 6,000 feet (1,800 m), above which trade-wide-produced clouds cannot rise.

External link

• Honolulu Star-Bulletin article on Wai‘ale‘ale