Name: Heavy Rain in Hawaii, April 6 to 7, 2014
Start: 2014-04-06T15:00
End: 2014-04-07T02:00
Location: Hawaii

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 weak cold front moving through the western end of the Aloha State caused heavy rain to fall over the Garden Isle of Kauai. The rain caused the Hanakapiai Stream in the northwest part of the isle to rise and become impassable. More than 120 hikers became stranded but were later rescued by fire department personnel. There were no significant injuries or serious property damage.

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 Apr 6, 10:02 AM HST, 4 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 6, 10:02 AM HST, 4 hours 58 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
1002 AM HST SUN APR 6 2014

.SYNOPSIS...
A SLIGHT INCREASE IN SHOWERS ALONG A WEAK COLD FRONT MOVING ACROSS
THE ISLANDS. SHOWERS WILL REMAIN FOCUSED OVER WINDWARD AND MAUKA
AREAS. STRONGER TRADES ARE EXPECTED DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE
WORK WEEK WITH A DRIER WEATHER PATTERN ACROSS THE ISLAND CHAIN.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
VISIBLE SATELLITE SHOWS A WEAK FRONT MOVING ONTO KAUAI FROM THE
NORTHWEST THIS MORNING. THIS FRONT IS PRODUCING SOME CLOUDS AND
SHOWERS ON KAUAI THIS MORNING...BUT ACCUMULATIONS HAVE GENERALLY
BEEN LIGHT. BREEZY NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH A 1028
MB SUBTROPICAL HIGH ARE OVERRUNNING THIS FEATURE AND WILL BUILD
WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE ISLAND CHAIN TODAY. LIGHT AND VARIABLE
FLOW ACROSS THE BIG ISLAND WILL KEEP VOGGY AND HUMID CONDITIONS
TODAY...WITH GENERALLY DRY AND PLEASANT ACROSS OAHU AND MAUI COUNTY.
VISIBLE SATELLITE ALSO SHOWS SCATTERED CIRRUS CLOUDS ASSOCIATED
WITH A JET STREAM PASSING OVER HAWAII TODAY. THESE HIGH CLOUDS ARE
SLATED TO MOVE EAST OF THE AREA BY MONDAY.

THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO REACH OAHU LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND MAUI
COUNTY TONIGHT. THE FRONT WILL BRING A MODEST AMOUNT OF SHOWERS
TONIGHT TO BOTH AREAS...WITH THE NORTHEAST TRADE WINDS FOCUSING
MOST OF THE RAIN ON THE WINDWARD AND MAUKA PORTIONS OF OAHU AND
MAUI COUNTY. KAUAI IS EXPECTED TO DRY OUT TONIGHT WITH THE
NORTHEAST WINDS USHERING IN COOL AND DRY AIR...THEN MOVING TO OAHU
AND MAUI COUNTY ON MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT RESPECTIVELY. A FEW
SHOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT WILL LINGER ON THE WINDWARD BIG
ISLAND ON TUESDAY.

TRADES WILL GRADUALLY STRENGTHEN MONDAY AND TUESDAY BEHIND THE
FRONT AND REMAIN BREEZY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. MOISTURE WILL BE
LIMITED ONCE THE FRONT PASSES...SO NOT EXPECTING MUCH RAIN IF ANY
OVER THE STATE ONCE THIS FEATURE MOVES OUT.

TRADE WINDS WILL WEAKEN AGAIN ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY IN THE WAKE
OF ANOTHER WEAK FRONT. MODELS DEPICT THIS FRONT TO BE WEAKER THAN
THE ONE CURRENTLY MOVING OVER THE STATE TODAY...SO WILL NOT BE
EXPECTING MUCH RAINFALL ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE. TRADES WILL
BUILD BACK OVER THE ISLANDS SATURDAY AS THE FRONT MOVES OUT.

&&

.AVIATION...
WE EXPECT MOSTLY VFR CONDITIONS AT THE TERMINALS. AIRMET TANGO FOR
MODERATE UPPER LEVEL TURBULENCE WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT THROUGH THE
DAY TODAY.

&&

.MARINE...
A NORTHWEST SWELL WILL BUILD TONIGHT BRINGING SURF HEIGHTS TO
ADVISORY LEVEL HEIGHTS BY EARLY MONDAY FOR NORTH AND WEST FACING
SHORES. SURF HEIGHTS SHOULD FALL BELOW ADVISORY LEVEL BY EARLY
TUESDAY MORNING...AND CONTINUE TO DECLINE THROUGH THE NEXT FEW
DAYS AFTERWARD. ANOTHER SWELL OF SIMILAR SIZE...THIS TIME FROM THE
WEST- NORTHWEST...WILL BUILD IN FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MAY GO INTO EFFECT FOR COMBINED SEAS
MOSTLY DUE TO THE NORTHWEST SWELL TONIGHT AND MONDAY. TRADE WINDS
WILL GRADUALLY STRENGTHEN OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...AND WE MAY SEE
25 KNOT WINDS IN SOME OF THE CHANNELS BY MONDAY OR TUESDAY BEFORE
DROPPING OFF AGAIN WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

&&

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

&&

DISCUSSION/MARINE...FOSTER
AVIATION...FUJII

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, Kauai

When: April 6, 3:00 PM HST to April 7, 2:00 AM HST
Where: Kauai County, 0.34 mi SE of Princeville to 1.79 mi NW of Kaana
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 22.216, -159.477

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

More

Every storm in Hawaii in 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in Hawaii, April 2014

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: 506246.