Tornado in Hawaii, January 8, 2005

Name: Tornado in Hawaii, January 8, 2005
Start: 2005-01-08T20:50
End: 2005-01-08T20:55
Location: Hawaii

January 8, 2005 · NWS HFO · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A tornado touched down in the community of Waimea in the evening of the 8th of January. A carport was damaged and some trees were knocked down as the storm moved eastward.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.

A tornado touched down in the community of Waimea in the evening of the 8th of January. A carport was damaged and some trees were knocked down as the storm moved eastward. There were no serious injuries. Damage estimates were not available.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Jan 8, 8:30 PM HST, 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 8, 8:30 PM HST, 20 minutes before

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
830 PM HST SAT JAN 8 2005

.SYNOPSIS...
A COLD FRONT ACCOMPANIED BY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...SOME
SEVERE...WILL PASS OVER KAUAI TONIGHT. THE FRONT WITH POSSIBLE
THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD REACH OAHU IN THE EARLY MORNING...THEN MOVE
DOEN THE ISLAND CHAIN TO EAST OF THE BIG ISLAND BY MONDAY. SUNNY AND
DRY WEATHER WILL FOLLOW THE FRONT.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
AN APPARANT DOUBLE COLD FRONT IS APPROACHING KAUAI FROM THE WEST. A
LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...SOME SEVERE...IS ABOUT 45 MILES WEST
OF BARKING SANDS AT 800 PM AND MOVING EASTWARD AT SOME 40 MPH. SOME
OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE WIND GUST IN EXCESS OF 60
MPH...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN...AND SOME MAY CONTAIN HAIL. THE SECOND
COLD FRONT IS STILL OVER 375 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF KAUAI AND IS
MARKED BY LINES OF SHOWERS. THESE TWO FRONTS ARE EXPECTED TO
MERGE...AS THE FIRST ONE...MUCH STRONGER THAN THE SECOND...
DOMINATES. THESE FRONTS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE DOWN THE ISLAND CHAIN
OVERNIGHT AND ON SUNDAY...REACHING THE BIG ISLAND ON SUNDAY. THE
STRONG CONVECTION NOW JUST WEST OF KAUAI IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AS
THE FRONT MOVES DOWN THE ISLAND CHAIN. HEAVY RAIN WILL ACCOMPANY
FRONTAL FEATURES...BUT BECAUSE EVERYTHING WILL BE MOVING ALONG AT A
DECENT CLIP...SIGNIFICANT FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED. DRY WEATHER IS
FORECAST FOR NEXT WEEK...ONCE THE FRONT MOVES AWAY FROM THE BIG
ISLAND.

&&

.HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR KAUAI

&&

FARRELL

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Kauai

When: January 8, 8:50 PM HST to 8:55 PM HST
Where: Kauai County, Waimea
Rating: F0
Path length: 5 mi
Path width: 10 yd
Reported by: NWS EMPLOYEE(OFF DUTY)
Coordinates: 21.950, -159.683

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Hawaii in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Hawaii, 2005 Warnings in Hawaii, January 2005

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5435250.