Heavy Rain in Hawaii, March 19 to 20, 2013

Name: Heavy Rain in Hawaii, March 19 to 20, 2013
Start: 2013-03-19T20:25
End: 2013-03-20T03:00
Location: Hawaii

March 19 to 20, 2013 · NWS HFO · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Light and variable winds, along with locally unstable conditions, produced heavy rain over parts of East Maui. The rain caused small stream and drainage ditch flooding, and ponding on roadways.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

Light and variable winds, along with locally unstable conditions, produced heavy rain over parts of East Maui. The rain caused small stream and drainage ditch flooding, and ponding on roadways. No serious injuries or property damage were reported.

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 19, 3:45 PM HST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 3:45 PM HST, 4 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
345 PM HST TUE MAR 19 2013

.SYNOPSIS...
LAND BREEZES WILL CLEAR OUT SKIES LATE TONIGHT. SOUTHERLY WINDS
WILL STRENGTHEN FOR KAUAI AND OAHU WEDNESDAY AND SPREADING TO THE
OTHER ISLANDS BY THURSDAY. A WEAKENING COLD FRONT WILL BEGIN
MOVING EAST DOWN THE ISLAND CHAIN ON FRIDAY...STALLING OUT ACROSS
THE CENTRAL PART OF THE STATE THIS WEEKEND. EXPECT INCREASING
SHOWERS ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT STARTING WEDNESDAY.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
A WEAK SURFACE RIDGE IS LOCATED NORTHEAST OF THE STATE WHILE AN
APPROACHING WEAK COLD FRONT LIES ABOUT 400 MILES NORTHWEST OF KAUAI.
CLOUD MOTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS HAVE BEEN INDICATING SLIGHTLY
STRONGER SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST WINDS ACROSS KAUAI AND OAHU THIS
AFTERNOON...AND WILL CONTINUE TO TREND UP ON WEDNESDAY. INTERIOR
CLOUDS OVER THE ISLANDS DUE TO THE AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES AND PASSING
CLUSTERS OF LOW CLOUDS COMING UP FROM THE SOUTH WILL CONTINUE INTO
THE EVENING HOURS. EXPECTING TO SEE CLEARING LATE TONIGHT FOR MOST
ISLANDS AS LAND BREEZES TAKE OVER.

WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN FROM THE SOUTH ON WEDNESDAY OVER
KAUAI AND OAHU...AND THURSDAY FOR THE OTHER ISLANDS AS THE COLD
FRONT GETS CLOSER. A TROUGH ALOFT WILL SWING TOWARDS THE ISLANDS
FROM THE NORTHWEST ON THURSDAY...AND PASS NORTH OF THE STATE ON
FRIDAY. THE TROUGH ALOFT WILL INCREASE THE INSTABILITY STATEWIDE.
PRE-FRONTAL SHOWERS MAY BEGIN TO POP UP AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SEA BREEZE CONVERGENCE OVER THE
ISLANDS...BUT THEY WILL BE MORE EVIDENT LATE WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.
SHOWERS WILL LIKELY INCREASE IN MOST LOCATIONS AROUND THE
STATE...BUT KAUAI AND OAHU WILL PROBABLY SEE MORE SHOWERS GIVEN
THEIR PROXIMITY TO THE UPPER TROUGH.

THE FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE STATE FRIDAY
AFTERNOON AND NIGHT...WITH TRADE WINDS SLOWLY BUILDING BEHIND IT BY
SATURDAY. MID / LONG MODELS ARE COMING INTO BETTER ALIGNMENT AS TO
WHERE THIS FRONT WILL END UP...AND THAT IS FOR IT TO STALL OUT
ACROSS MAUI COUNTY SATURDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL WEAKEN WHILE THE
MODERATE TRADE WINDS BUILD ON TOP OF IT...PUSHING THE REMNANT
MOISTURE ACROSS WINDWARD SLOPES OF MOLOKAI AND MAUI SUNDAY INTO
EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE MODERATE TRADES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE LONG
RANGE PART OF THE FORECAST.

EXPECT PASSING HIGH CLOUDS AT TIMES THURSDAY-SUNDAY AS POCKETS OF
HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUBTROPICAL JET PASSES OVER
THE ISLANDS.

&&

.AVIATION...
ISOL MVFR CIGS OVER INTERIOR AND MOUNTAIN AREAS DUE TO AFTERNOON
CONVECTION WILL DISSIPATE AS LAND BREEZES DEVELOP THROUGH THE
EVENING. LOOK FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF DAYTIME CONVECTION AND ISOL MVFR
CIGS OVER THE ISLANDS ON WEDNESDAY. VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD PREVAIL AT
ALL TERMINALS.

&&

.MARINE...
THE CURRENT NORTH SWELL WILL DECLINE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. FORERUNNERS
OF THE NEXT NW SWELL WILL ARRIVE WEDNESDAY...BUT THE BULK OF THE
ENERGY WILL REACH THE ISLANDS WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL LIKELY
BRING ADVISORY SURF HEIGHTS TO NORTH AND WEST SHORES OF THE SMALLER
ISLANDS. MODERATE SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST WINDS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THIS
SWELL WILL BUILD COMBINED SEAS TO SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY HEIGHTS FOR
MOST OF THE COASTAL ZONES. OTHERWISE...SMALL LONG-PERIOD SOUTH SWELL
WILL STICK AROUND THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK.

&&

.HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.

&&

DISCUSSION/MARINE...FOSTER
AVIATION...WROE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Maui

When: March 19, 8:25 PM HST to March 20, 3:00 AM HST
Where: Maui County, 0.64 mi E of Kipahulu to 0.8 mi WSW of Hana
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 20.649, -156.060

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Hawaii in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history Warnings in Hawaii, March 2013

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: 434336.