Name: Funnel Cloud in Hawaii, March 7, 2005
Start: 2005-03-07T08:15
End: 2005-03-07T08:30
Location: Hawaii

Where it happened

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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.

Employees of the Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station spotted a funnel cloud off the Waianae coast on Oahu. The funnel dissipated without incident.

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 Mar 7, 4:00 AM HST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 7, 4:00 AM HST, 4 hours 15 minutes before

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
400 AM HST MON MAR 7 2005

CORRECTED WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORY SECTION FOR MAUI

.SYNOPSIS...
A RIDGE NEAR THE ISLANDS WILL PRODUCE LIGHT WINDS AND DRY WEATHER
THROUGH TOMORROW MORNING. SHOWERS WILL INCREASE STARTING TOMORROW
AFTERNOON AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NORTHWEST. A BAND OF
SHOWERS ALONG THE FRONT WILL REACH KAUAI WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THEN PUSH
DOWN ACROSS THE REST THE ISLANDS THURSDAY. NORTH WINDS BEHIND THE
FRONT WILL SHIFT RAPIDLY TO TRADE WINDS. REMNANTS OF THE FRONTAL
BAND WILL LINGER OVER THE ISLANDS...KEEPING THE WEATHER SHOWERY
THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
WEATHER ACROSS THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS IS VERY QUIET THIS MORNING.
SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW ISOLATED CLOUDS OVER MOST AREAS AND RADARS SHOW
ONLY ISOLATED SHOWERS...MAINLY OFFSHORE. LOW LEVEL WINDS NEAR THE
ISLANDS ARE FAIRLY LIGHT FROM THE WEST SOUTHWEST. THE RIDGE WILL
REMAIN OVER THE ISLANDS THROUGH TOMORROW PRODUCING LIGHT WINDS WITH
AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES AND NIGHTTIME LAND BREEZES. THERE WILL BE SOME
AFTERNOON CLOUDINESS TODAY...BUT THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE TOO DRY AND
STABLE FOR MUCH RAINFALL.

A TROUGH ALOFT AND AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE FRONT WEST OF THE DATELINE
ARE MOVING SOUTHEAST TOWARDS THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. AS THE FRONT
MOVES CLOSER...SOUTHWEST FLOW OVER THE ISLANDS WILL STRENGTHEN...
BRINGING MORE MOISTURE UP OVER THE ISLANDS. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS
AN AREA OF TROPICAL MOISTURE SOUTH OF THE BIG ISLAND STARTING TO
SPREAD NORTHWARD. THIS MOISTURE WILL BOOST THE CHANCES OF
PRECIPITATION STARTING TOMORROW AFTERNOON. THE LATEST COUPLE OF RUNS
OF THE GFS SHOW THE MOISTURE STRETCHING OUT INTO A PREFRONTAL
CONVERGENCE BAND ACROSS THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. THIS PREFRONTAL
BAND WILL MAKE OUR WEATHER RATHER SHOWERY WELL BEFORE THE FRONT
ARRIVES.

THE FRONT WILL REACH KAUAI WEDNESDAY EVENING...AND THE SHOWER BAND
ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT WILL PUSH DOWN TO THE BIG ISLAND BY
THURSDAY EVENING. A BRIEF PERIOD OF NORTH WINDS BEHIND THE FRONT
WILL BE FOLLOWED BY EAST NORTHEAST TRADE WINDS AS A SURFACE HIGH
MOVES EASTWARD BEHIND THE FRONT. THE FRONT WILL PRODUCE WIDESPREAD
CLOUDS AND SHOWERS BUT IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THERE WILL BE EXCESSIVE
RAINFALL.

REMNANTS OF THE FRONTAL BAND WILL STALL OVER THE ISLANDS THURSDAY
NIGHT AND FRIDAY. THE LATEST COUPLE OF RUNS OF THE GFS SHOW A TROUGH
ALOFT DIGGING NORTHWEST OF THE ISLANDS AND ENHANCING THE FRONTAL
REMNANTS. THAT MAY KEEPING OUR WEATHER QUITE SHOWERY THROUGH
SATURDAY EVENING...BUT WE CANNOT BE TOO CONFIDENT ABOUT THE MODEL
SOLUTIONS THAT FAR OUT IN TIME.

&&

.MARINE...
A NORTHWEST SWELL THAT PRODUCED THE HIGH SURF OVER THE WEEKEND HAS
BEEN SLOWLY DROPPING. THE COMPUTER MODELS SHOW A NEW...AND LARGER...
SWELL REACHING THE ISLANDS TODAY. WE HAVE UPGRADED THE HIGH SURF
ADVISORY TO A WARNING FOR MOLOKAI AND MAUI. HIGH SURF WARNINGS
CONTINUE FOR KAUAI AND OAHU AND A HIGH SURF ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR
KONA.

&&

.HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

NIIHAU KAUAI OAHU AND MOLOKAI-
HIGH SURF WARNING FOR N AND W FACING SHORES THROUGH TUESDAY.

MAUI -
HIGH SURF WARNING FOR N FACING SHORES THROUGH TUESDAY.

BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII -
HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR W FACING SHORES THROUGH TUESDAY.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS.

&&

DONALDSON/BIRCHARD

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Honolulu

When: March 7, 8:15 AM HST to 8:30 AM HST
Where: Honolulu County, 5 mi NW of Waianae
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 21.455, -157.961 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Hawaii in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Hawaii, March 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: 5439586.