Your First Alert Weather Team has declared today a FIRST ALERT WEATHER DAYS as a large and powerful Kona storm moves north of the state and continues to pull up deep tropical moisture and heavy rain at times over all islands. The system is expected to bring an extended period of flash flooding, damaging winds and strong thunderstorms, with the heaviest impacts focused on Maui County and Hawaii Island.
What This Means For Hawaii Weather
The Flood Watch has ended for Kauai and will end for Oahu Saturday night. The Flood Watch remains in effect for Maui County and Hawaii Island into Sunday. The storm is expected to extend east to Maui County and Hawaii Island into most of Saturday evening, keeping the primary rainband nearly stationary and intensifying rainfall over those areas.
Threats include significant flash flooding, damaging winds and strong to severe thunderstorms. Snow and ice are expected over the highest Big Island summits. Southerly to southwesterly winds will be strongest from today, producing damaging gusts; Hawaii Island along Kona has been seeing powerful gusts up to 75 mph. South shore surf is peaking today just below advisory levels.
Hour-By-Hour: Afternoon Into Night
Afternoon conditions will feature thunderstorms across the eastern half of the state throughout Saturday afternoon. The initial band of thunderstorms could stall over eastern Maui Saturday afternoon and evening, while pop-up and more scattered storms are expected for Hawaii Island. Models hint at higher rainfall totals for the Kona side of Hawaii Island, with the main rainband remaining nearly stationary over Maui County and Hawaii Island.
Thunderstorms will continue overnight. A stalled band could remain between Maui and Hawaii Island throughout the night, exacerbating the flooding risk. While the Flood Watch will begin to decrease for Kauai and Oahu throughout Sunday, the ground will be so saturated that any additional rainfall could lead to quick runoff and flash flooding. Any individual pop-up storm may produce more runoff and localized flooding.
Outlook Through Sunday And Beyond
Flash flooding and breezy southwest winds are expected for Maui County and Hawaii Island on Sunday, with impacts potentially extending into Monday for Hawaii Island. The First Alert Weather Team will continue monitoring the storm throughout the week and provide updates as conditions evolve.
