Cataluna: Rain showers darken skies but it’s still so hot

It rained last week. It seemed like the grueling heat of summer was finally breaking.

But no. Still hot. The ground got wet but that was about it.

Then it rained a second day. Fat walls of gray clouds crowded the sky, making the city look small and vulnerable below. The wind teased at the branches of the coconut trees. Oh, it’s all going to break now.

Nope.

No storm. No cleansing deluge. No end to the summer heat. It’s October now, and there’s been no relief for months.

But that one morning last week, that first rainy day, did you wake up to the pitter-patter of rain on the lanai outside the bedroom window and think that your prayers for an end to this miserable stretch of heat had been answered? It seemed like most of Honolulu was so happy for the rain and wildly hopeful for a change in the weather.

Judging by the images on social media, Hawaii residents woke up to the rain showers and instantly grabbed for that snowy-cabin fantasy — you know the one — where it’s frosty outside like the set of a Hallmark Christmas movie and the blankets are heavy and snug and you have absolutely nothing to do all day but lounge on plump pillows, watch the rain fall, maybe baste a turkey and shake glitter onto glue dots on homemade ornaments. Instagram was full of pictures of feet in fuzzy socks, kids waking up under two layers of blankets, wistful selfies next to misty windowpanes. Hawaii went all-out with the convincing imagery, as if wishing it could make it real.

It’s altogether possible that some went as far as cranking up the air conditioning on that rainy morning. Just a little. Just a few degrees colder and a few clicks higher with the fan. Just to help along the make-believe. How else would one post pictures of the keiki in flannel pajama pants or the spouse wrapped in a comforter and drinking hot coffee while watching it rain down the promise of fall in the early morning light? It was too hot for even a sheet, let alone the heavy blanket and pants.

Beyond the carefully curated images, people dressed with such expectation in real life on the recent rainy days. Kids put the hoods up on their hoodies. Men dug in the closet for jackets. A lady trudged in the downtown heat in knee-high boots — miserable, fashionable, full of hope.

Hawaii got faked out. The big promise of the change of seasons, the great hope of a loud downpour, like the emphatic applause signaling the end of a long, intense performance, has not yet come to pass. It’s already fall. It’s still summer-hot. So there’s nothing but waiting and maybe a little indulgent pretending. You go ahead and wear those boots, sis. Walk down the steaming streets with your hot coffee. The weather will eventually catch up.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.