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Mount WaialealeMount Wai‘ale‘ale (Hawaiian for "rippling waters"), elevation 5,208 ft (1,578 m), is the highest point on the island of Kaua‘i in the Hawaiian Islands. Averaging more than 460 inches (1168 cm) of rain over the last 32 years, with a record 683 inches (1734 cm) 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 1187.3 cm (467.4 inches) over a period of 39 years.) Several factors give the summit of Wai‘ale‘ale more potential to create precipitation as the rest of the island chain: - Its northern position relative to the main Hawaiian Islands provides more exposure to frontal systems that bring rain during the winter.
- It has a relatively round and regular conical shape, exposing all sides of its peak to winds and the moisture that they carry.
- Its peak lies just below the so-called trade wind inversion layer of 6,000 feet, above which trade-wide-produced clouds cannot rise.
* Honolulu Star-Bulletin article on Wai‘ale‘ale
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