A period of westerly winds impacted the Big Island summits from early in the morning of Jan. 5th and continued through Jan 7th.
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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.
A period of westerly winds impacted the Big Island summits from early in the morning of Jan. 5th and continued through Jan 7th.
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 4, 8:39 PM HST, 5 hours 51 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Honolulu HI 839 PM HST Wed Jan 4 2017 .SYNOPSIS... Remnants of a frontal boundary will slowly move down the island chain overnight through early Friday. Associated clouds and showers will affect mainly the windward and mauka areas through Thursday. Some showers may linger over the windward Big Island into early Friday. Cool and dry conditions are expected to spread southward across the state Thursday night and Friday, then continue through the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... Showery conditions prevail across windward and mauka sections of Kauai and Oahu this evening, with a few showers spilling over into some leeward sections of those islands. Rainfall amounts have been light to moderate, with most windward gauges reporting six hourly totals of a half inch or less, except for a few gauges on Kauai where six-hour totals are approaching one inch. Mainly dry weather prevails over Maui County and the Big Island. Dividing these two weather regimes are the remnants of a frontal boundary located near the Kaiwi Channel. Surface analysis depicts the weak front stretching northeast from the Hawaiian Islands to a low far northeast of the state, with a high pressure ridge nosing southward to the northwest of the front. Aloft, a broad upper level trough is located over the central Pacific, with the state lying along the southern periphery of this trough. MIMIC-TPW satellite imagery shows slightly higher moisture levels along the frontal remnants with estimated PW values up to 1.3 inches, while a drier airmass resides over the eastern part of the state. The 00Z soundings tell a similar story, with Lihue reporting PW of 1.23 inches and a weak inversion near 10K feet, while Hilo reported PW of 1.02 inches and a stronger inversion near 7K feet. Westerly winds on the Big Island summits have increased to 45-50 mph sustained early this evening due to the upper trough passing by to our north, and model output suggests that similar summit- level winds will persist through Thursday. A wind advisory has been issued for the summits through 6 PM Thursday afternoon. Overnight, the frontal remnants will continue sagging slowly southward over central parts of the state. Rain chances will remain highest over windward sections of Kauai and Oahu, and showers/clouds should increase late tonight over windward Maui County. The existing forecast appears to be on track, and no additional updates are planned for this evening. Thursday through Friday, the band of enhanced moisture along the remnant front will continue sagging slowly southward, with a drier airmass spreading southward into the state behind this feature. Highest rain chances should shift to windward areas of Maui County by Thursday afternoon, then the lingering moisture will likely become trapped along the windward side of the Big Island Thursday night and Friday morning. More wet weather appears to be in store during that time for the Hamakua coast. The drier airmass should push south over the Big Island by Friday evening, causing windward shower activity to decrease. Surface high pressure initially far to the north of the state Thursday and Friday will shift to the southeast and weaken during the weekend. Moderate N/NE winds will gradually veer around to the east and weaken as well during this time, with seabreezes possibly developing over the western islands Sunday afternoon. Models show the airmass over the state remaining dry and stable, so expect little rainfall. Slightly below normal temperatures and low dewpoints will provide very comfortable conditions. Heading into the early and middle part of next week, the 05/00Z GFS has come into somewhat better agreement with the 04/12Z ECMWF in showing a weaker front which does not make it through the islands. This keeps the surface ridge axis nearby with light mostly SE flow over the islands. A land and sea breeze pattern would be the result, with afternoon clouds over the islands but little shower activity due to the dry/stable airmass in place. Showers could increase over western parts of the state Monday night and Tuesday if the front makes it that far south, but it is not clear at this point if the front will even reach Kauai. Overall, no major rain makers are in sight for the state through the next several days. && .AVIATION... Low clouds and showers associated with a remnant frontal boundary are moving through Kauai and Oahu this evening, with this boundary expected to sag slowly southward into Maui County tonight and Thursday. MVFR cigs/vsbys in SHRA will be possible primarily across windward locations as the frontal remnants move through. Elsewhere, predominantly VFR conditions are expected through the TAF forecast period. AIRMET Sierra is in effect for mountain obscuration across windward portions of Kauai and Oahu. The AIRMET may need to be expanded to include Molokai and Maui later tonight. && .MARINE... The High Surf Advisory along east facing shores was cancelled this afternoon as the current north swell continues to subside. A new moderate north-northeast swell is expected to arrive Thursday evening and hold through the weekend. This swell also brings the chance for a new High Surf Advisory along the east facing shores, especially for those areas with exposure to the north. Another, slightly larger north-northeast swell is forecast to arrive early next week and peak Tuesday night. High pressure far north of the state will keep light to moderate winds over the coastal waters, staying below the Small Craft Advisory (SCA) levels through the week. The combination of the lighter winds and moderate swells is not expected to produce SCA level combined seas either through the week. A small long period pulse to the background south swell should keep some surf along the south facing shores through Thursday. && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until 6 PM HST Thursday for Big Island Summits. && DISCUSSION/MARINE...Jacobson AVIATION...Jelsema
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The winds reached High Wind Warning threshold just after 2 AM on the 5th, and continued at Warning levels until 5 PM on the 7th. Peak measured wind gust was 84 mph at 11 AM HST on the 7th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Hawaii in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, January 2017
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: 677455.