After a weekend of severe and stormy weather, more rain could be on the way, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service.
Patrick Blood, a meteorologist with NWS in Honolulu, however, says, “We are likely not going to experience what we just went through.”
Thursday and Friday will be days “where we could pick up more rain,” he told Aloha State Daily Monday, but “we’re not looking at any wind right now.”
A Kona Low — a powerful seasonal cyclone — moved through the Islands last week, bringing with it heavy rains, high winds, flooding, power outages and other damage. Much of the rain fell Friday into Saturday.
According to Blood, Maui and Hawai‘i Island bore the brunt of that storm
The state received “anywhere from 10 to 20-plus inches statewide,” he told ASD.
“Higher amounts fell over the south-, southwest-facing portions of the Islands,” he says. “Areas that don’t typically get that much rain received copious amounts of rain, which led to flooding. The hardest-hit areas were the island of Maui and Big Island, as far as the impacts.”
Flooding, he says, was the worst around Kīhei and the leeward side of Maui, on the west-facing slopes of Haleakalā, and south of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, heading toward Captain Cook.
Blood says the weather event spanned Tuesday to Sunday, but 80% of the rainfall occurred from Friday into Saturday morning.
Most saw rainfall of 6 or 7 inches to around 12 inches over that period, he told ASD.
The island of Maui, though, picked up anywhere from 15 to 20-plus inches of rain, with some areas in up country receiving more than 30 inches, he noted. And one gage even reported more than 46 inches, he told ASD.
On the Big Island, Blood says the “dry side of that island got the most rain,” but some areas in the southeast side of the island also picked up 25 to 27 inches.
Kaua‘i — home to one of the wettest places on Earth — “probably escaped the worst of it,” Blood says, but the island still received 6 to 9 inches on its south side, he noted.
You can find past rainfall summaries here.
High winds also caused damage at during last week’s storm.
The highest wind gust of 135 mph was measured at 4:20 a.m. on Saturday at Kaiāulu Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a on Hawai‘i Island, at an elevation of around 4,000 feet, Blood says.
On O‘ahu, a wind gust of 81 mph was measured at Makapu‘u Beach.
Kula, on Maui, also saw a wind gust of 108 mph at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet.
(For comparison, a Category 2 hurricane has winds between 96 and 110 mph).
Blood says 1980 was “the last time we had this kind of rain statewide.”
“But Kona Lows come nearly every year, pretty much. It’s just they all come in different flavors, different sizes, different strengths. Some are slower moving than others. A storm of this magnitude is definitely a generational storm. You only see this storm once every 20, 30 years.”
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
