An upper low and a separate upper trough generated heavy rain and showers, isolated thunderstorms, and flash flooding over much of the Aloha State. The features also produced snow and blustery weather to the upper elevations of the Big Island of Hawaii.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.
An upper low and a separate upper trough generated heavy rain and showers, isolated thunderstorms, and flash flooding over much of the Aloha State. The features also produced snow and blustery weather to the upper elevations of the Big Island of Hawaii.
A woman was swept away and killed during flash flooding on Kauai on the 3rd during a kayak and hiking tour near the Wailua River.
An aircraft with Hawaiian Airlines suffered relatively minor damage from a lightning strike as it was inbound to the Hilo airport on the Big Island of Hawaii on the 1st. The costs of any other damages that may have occurred were not available.
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 Dec 1, 3:31 AM HST, 3 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Honolulu HI 331 AM HST Thu Dec 1 2016 .SYNOPSIS... An unstable atmosphere due a trough aloft combined with a surge of moisture moving into the state from the southeast will bring locally heavy rainfall and a slight chance of thunderstorms to many areas today through Friday, with the highest chances for heavy rainfall on the Big Island. Another trough aloft will approach from the northwest Friday, then linger west of the state through the weekend. This trough will bring an extended period of southeast winds and wet weather over the state during the weekend and into early next week. && .DISCUSSION... Shower activity has generally increased in coverage and intensity over eastern and central portions of the state during the night, and isolated thunderstorms have developed recently across the offshore waters beyond 40 miles west of the Big Island and southwest of Oahu. The showers continue to move quickly within brisk trade wind flow, and as a result rainfall amounts have remained on the light to moderate side, with only a few gauges recording over one inch of rainfall during the past six hours. Surface analysis shows a 1033 mb high centered far northeast of the state, with a fairly tight pressure gradient over the islands. Aloft, water vapor imagery shows an upper level low centered about 150 miles southwest of the Big Island, with a ridge centered well to our north and northeast. The 12Z Hilo sounding shows an increasingly moist and unstable profile, with PW value of 1.48 inches, ample moisture extending above 500 mb, no inversion and a 500 mb temp of -13C. The 12Z Lihue sounding was also somewhat unstable, but considerably drier aloft with PW of only 0.99 inches. MIMIC-TPW satellite imagery shows several pockets of enhanced moisture around the eastern half of the state, with estimated PW values up to 1.7 inches. Overnight mesonet reports show that winds have generally decreased below advisory levels even at the windiest locations, and the wind advisory has been cancelled with the early morning forecast package. Today through Friday, the upper low near the Big Island is forecast to drift slowly to the north, while another longwave trough digs southward from the mid-latitudes to our northwest. Unstable conditions aloft will remain in place, while models show the greatest lower/mid level moisture convergence focused over the eastern end of the state. A slight chance of thunderstorms will spread from east to west across the state today into tonight, then continue statewide on Friday. While locally heavy rains will be possible statewide, especially tonight into Friday, the chances for more widespread heavy rainfall still appear greatest over the Big Island, and the flash flood watch there is posted from this morning through Friday afternoon. Forecast models also indicate sufficient deep moisture/lift and cold air aloft present to generate some potentially significant snowfall amounts over the Big Island summits, and the earlier watch has now been upgraded to a winter storm warning from today through Friday afternoon. The latest GFS and ECMWF have come into somewhat better agreement for the weekend and into early next week. Both show an amplifying longwave trough digging west of the state, with an inverted trough or weak surface low developing underneath the upper trough. The models also remain in good agreement with the positioning, placing Hawaii in moist SE/S flow and in the favorable quadrant of the developing system for widespread and potentially heavy rainfall. At this time, the best chances for heavy rains appear to be from Sunday into Monday, although this remains subject to change as we get closer to the event. There may be yet another surge of moisture/rain around the middle of next week as long-range models dig another trough down over the Central Pacific, but there remains much uncertainty with position/timing. In any case, it appears that trade winds will be absent from the state for an extended period of time from the weekend through at least the middle of next week. && .AVIATION... High pressure northeast of the state will keep breezy to locally strong trades in place through the day, with clouds and showers favoring windward and mauka areas. Due to the strength of the trades, however, showers will occasionally reach leeward areas of the smaller islands and West Maui. MVFR cigs/vsbys will occasionally impact windward areas through the afternoon. Elsewhere, predominantly VFR conditions are expected. AIRMET Sierra remains in effect for mountain obscuration across windward sections of all the islands. These conditions will likely improve later in the day. AIRMET Tango remains in effect for low level turbulence over and downwind of the terrain. These conditions are expected to continue through most of the day. && .MARINE... The overnight ASCAT pass missed most of the Hawaiian coastal waters, but did find areas of 25 kt winds around and west of Kauai. Land-based mesonet data and high-resolution model guidance along with the previous Wednesday morning ASCAT pass suggest that gale conditions may be ongoing in some of the typically windier zones around Maui County, and we have extended the Gale Warning for those areas through today. A Small Craft Advisory remains posted for the remainder of the coastal waters. Winds will start to weaken tonight, then shift out of the southeast starting Friday as a surface trough develops west of the area. The advisory will be gradually lowered for many of the leeward coastal zones during this time, although high seas will continue to impact the windward zones due to the long fetch of trade winds to the east of the local waters. The strong trade winds will produce rough surf along east facing shores. The nearshore CDIP buoys continue to run near 10 feet, and surf observations from Wednesday afternoon were still at/above advisory levels. While local winds will start to diminish today, the upstream fetch remains long and wide with stronger winds remaining in place upstream. Wavewatch III guidance shows seas remaining elevated, and the high surf advisory remains posted for east facing shores through Friday afternoon. A new northwest swell is expected to begin arriving this afternoon, then peak late tonight into Friday. This swell is forecast to bring advisory level surf to north and west facing shores late tonight into Friday, and a High Surf Advisory will probably be issued for those areas later today. && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Surf Advisory until 6 PM HST Friday for east facing shores of Kauai Oahu Molokai Maui and the Big Island. Flash Flood Watch from 6 AM HST this morning through Friday afternoon for Big Island. Winter Storm Warning until 6 PM HST Friday for Big Island Summits. Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST Friday for Big Island Leeward Waters-Big Island Southeast Waters. Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST Friday for Oahu Windward Waters-Kaiwi Channel-Maui County Windward Waters-Big Island Windward Waters. Gale Warning until 6 PM HST this evening for Maalaea Bay-Pailolo Channel-Alenuihaha Channel. Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST this evening for Kauai Northwest Waters-Kauai Windward Waters-Kauai Leeward Waters- Kauai Channel-Oahu Leeward Waters-Maui County Leeward Waters. && DISCUSSION/MARINE...Jacobson AVIATION...Kinel
The Kamuela/Kohala Apt radar (PHKM), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:33 UTC.
10 heavy rain, 6 flash flood, 1 lightning, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A pilot for Hawaiian Airlines reported a lightning strike on his aircraft inbound to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Kuhio Highway was closed near the Hanalei Bridge on Kauai due to flooding from the Hanalei River.
On the Big island of Hawaii, Highway 11 near Kawa Flats in the Kau District, near mile markers 58 and 59, was closed due to flooding.
An estimated two feet of snow accumulated on the upper slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii.
A part of Hauula Elementary School in windward Oahu was flooded due to a sand-clogged outlet channel.
On the Big Island of Hawaii near Mountain View, Kahikopele Street was closed near South Kopua Road due to major ponding on the roadway. A pond' formed that was about 100 yards wide and 2 feet deep.
Flash flooding at a stream near the Wailua River on Kauai swept a woman away to her death, though others in the kayak and hiking tour group managed to get to safety.
Kuhio Highway near the Hanalei Bridge on Kauai was closed due to flooding from the Hanalei River.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood, Kauai | 2016-12-03 | 32 | Female | In Water | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Hawaii in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, December 2016
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: 665104, 665105, 665106, 665107, 665108, 665110, 665109, 665111, 665112, 665115, 665113, 665114, 665116, 665126, 665117, 665118, 665119, 665120.