Move over, Kauai’s Mount Waialeale — you’re now No. 2 in rainfall.

The state’s wettest spot is "Big Bog" on Maui, according to a team of scientists.

University of Hawaii climatologist Tom Giambelluca said Big Bog on Maui’s eastern slope above Hana has about 402 inches of rainfall a year.

Mount Waialeale, previously designated by the U.S. Geological Survey as the wettest spot, has 394 inches annually.

The study is based on an analysis of mean rainfall and the use of statistical techniques from 1978 to 2007, Giam­belluca said. He said rainfall at Big Bog went unnoticed until 1992 when a rain gauge was installed at its 5,400-foot-high location.

He said the assumption prior to 1990 was that Big Bog had less than 200 inches of rainfall per year.

Waialeale hasn’t even been the wettest spot on Kauai lately. In the 48-hour period that ended at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Waialeale had 19.87 inches of rain, compared with 25.07 at Hanalei and 24.0 at Wai­niha.

Giambelluca stressed that Mount Waialeale is still very wet and that its average rainfall is similar to Big Bog.

The study also confirmed what climatologists have been saying about Hawaii: It’s gotten drier over the past 100 years.

Giambelluca said the drying rate has been much faster during the most recent 30 years or so, roughly a decline of 10 percent of inches of rain per decade.

He said within that 30-year period, there were periods of natural ups and downs, with relatively wet and dry periods.

"In general, we see continuing drying over the rest of the 21st century," he said.

"Some places have changed more than others."

Giambelluca said the scientific team is close to finishing new research to clearly figure out patterns of change.

The study, published as the Rainfall Atlas of Hawaii in 2011, was funded by the state Commission on Water Resource Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Hawaii.

Some of the findings can be found at rainfall.geography.hawaii.edu.