Alert archive / Hawaii / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 46, NWS Honolulu, HI

March 27, 2004Kauai County, Hawaii

NWS Honolulu, HI issued this flash flood warning at Mar 27, 2004, 8:55 AM HST for Kauai County, Hawaii. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 27, 2004, 8:55 AM HST (18:55 UTC)
Expired: Mar 27, 2004, 11:45 AM HST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Honolulu, HI
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Kauai County, HI

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Hilo, (PITO), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 165 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 893 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 591 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 20 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WGHW50 PHFO 271855
FFWHI 
HIZ003-272145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
855 AM HST SAT MAR 27 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HONOLULU HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  EAST MAUI INCLUDING THE COMMUNITIES OF NAHIKU HANA AND KIPAHULU 

* UNTIL 1145 AM HST

* AT 845 AM HST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM A THUNDERSTORM NEAR HANA...OR ABOUT 30 MILES
  EAST OF KAHULUI...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 5 MPH.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF STREAMS
AND COULD ALSO TRIGGER ROCK AND MUDSLIDES IN STEEP TERRAIN.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF
STREAMS...HIGHWAYS...UNDERPASSES AND LOW LYING AREAS.

MOTORISTS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR FLOODING AND SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO
CROSS FAST FLOWING OR RISING WATER, MANY FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR
WHEN MOTORISTS TRY CROSSING FLODED ROADWAYS. TURN AROUND...DON/T
DROWN

ESCAPE RISING WATER BY CLIMBING DIRECTLY TO HIGHER GROUND. NEVER TRY
TO OUTRACE A FLOOD...EITHER ON FOOT OR IN YOUR VEHICLE. DO NOT CAMP
NEAR STREAMS OR OTHER AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING.

LAT...LON 2092 15615 2056 15623 2062 15597 2094 15596

$$

POWELL

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Honolulu, HI wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Mar 27, 8:00 AM HST, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 27, 8:00 AM HST, 55 minutes before

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
1000 AM PST SAT MAR 27 2004

.SYNOPSIS...AFTER ANOTHER DAY OF HEAVY SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS FOR MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND...DRIER TRADE WINDS WILL
RETURN TO THE ISLANDS FROM WEST TO EAST TONIGHT...THANKS TO HIGH
PRESSURE MOVING IN TO OUR NORTHWEST AND AN UPPER TROUGH MOVING AWAY
TO OUR EAST. WET WEATHER WILL GRADUALLY RETURN BEGINNING MIDWEEK AS
A SHEARLINE APPROACHES.

&&

.DISCUSSION...AN UPPER TROUGH WHICH WAS PARKED TO THE WEST OF THE
ISLANDS ALL LAST WEEK IS NOW MOVING EASTWARD. WATER VAPOR SATELLITE
LOOPS CORROBORATE MODEL OUTPUT SHOWING THE TROUGH AXIS EXTENDS
ACROSS OAHU AND THE ISLANDS OF MAUI COUNTY THIS MORNING. LINGERING
INSTABILITY ALONG THE EASTERN FLANK OF THE TROUGH CONTINUES TO
TRIGGER HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER EAST MAUI. SIMILAR
ACTIVITY MAY OCCUR OVER PORTIONS OF THE BIG ISLAND LATER TODAY. THE
TROUGH WILL MOVE EAST OF THE BIG ISLAND BY TONIGHT...CLEARING ISLAND
SKIES AND SETTLING OUR WEATHER.

AT THE SURFACE...A 1027 MB HIGH IS CENTERED NEAR 31N 175W...FAR
NORTHWEST OF HAWAII. NO LONGER BLOCKED BY INDUCED SURFACE
TROUGHING...THIS HIGH WILL MOVE EASTWARD OVER THE NEXT FEW
DAYS...USHERING IN TRADES THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. MODELS
SHOW A TROUGH APPROACHING FROM THE WEST AND REACHING THE ISLANDS
NEXT WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY...WEAKENING THE TRADE WINDS AND
INCREASING CLOUD AND SHOWER COVERAGE. HIGH PRESSURE FOLLOWING ON THE
HEELS OF THE SHEARLINE WILL STRENGTHEN TRADE WINDS AGAIN BY NEXT
WEEKEND. HOWEVER...THE MOISTURE FIELD FROM THE SHEARLINE WILL BE
CONSERVED OVER THE ISLANDS...KEEPING WINDWARD AND MAUKA AREAS RATHER
WET FROM MIDWEEK ONWARD EVEN AFTER THE TRADES RESTRENGTHEN.

&&

.WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...EAST MAUI UNTIL 1145 AM HST.

POWELL

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Hawaii, 2004 Every flash flood warning in 2004

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.