A kona (upper) low far off to the northwest of the islands was close enough to send waves of showers to the Garden Isle of Kauai. Some of the bands were intense and caused flash flooding over the northern portion of the island near Hanalei.
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The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.
A kona (upper) low far off to the northwest of the islands was close enough to send waves of showers to the Garden Isle of Kauai. Some of the bands were intense and caused flash flooding over the northern portion of the island near Hanalei. However, there were no reports of significant property damage or injuries. This is a continuation of an episode that began at the end of October.
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 Nov 1, 3:55 AM HST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Honolulu HI 355 AM HST Wed Nov 1 2017 .SYNOPSIS... A stalled front will remain to the northwest of Kauai through today. Abundant moisture and instability will keep the potential for thunderstorms and flooding rains over Kauai, with humid conditions statewide. The front will slowly dissipate and drift westward away from the area tonight and Thursday, with the atmosphere stabilizing over the state. Increasing trade winds will build across the islands beginning Thursday night into Friday, with a rather wet trade wind pattern prevailing into the weekend. Drier trade wind weather is forecast to move into the state beginning on Sunday. && .DISCUSSION... Northward moving showers remain active early this morning over the coastal waters south of Kauai and in the Kauai Channel. These showers have remained mainly offshore during much of the night, but shower activity has recently increased once again over Kauai. From Oahu through the Big Island, generally dry weather prevails. Surface analysis depicts a stalled front about 250 miles west- northwest of Kauai. Weak high pressure lies far northeast of the state. The flow pattern between these two features veers from ESE over the Big Island to southerly over Kauai. Satellite imagery shows a vertically stacked low from the surface to aloft located about 1050 miles northwest of Kauai. This low is nearly stationary. A pre-frontal convergence band is generating clusters of thunderstorms along an axis about 150 miles northwest of Kauai, but this activity is making little eastward progress at the moment. MIMIC-TPW imagery shows a moist airmass over the state, with estimated PW values around 2 inches near Kauai. The 12Z Lihue sounding reflected what was probably temporary stabilization of the airmass in the wake of earlier convection, with a weak inversion developing around 6000 feet and PW down slightly to 1.79 inches. The 12Z Hilo sounding also shows a weak inversion around 6000 feet with PW of 1.74 inches. The threat of heavy rains and flash flooding will persist across Kauai and Niihau today due to their proximity to the surface front and upper trough with abundant moisture in place. The flash flood watch will remain posted for those islands through this afternoon. Elsewhere, models show a somewhat more stable airmass spreading westward across the state during the day. While light southeast background flow will allow afternoon seabreezes to develop once again with humid conditions continuing, the likelihood of heavy rains or thunderstorms appears to be quite low from Oahu eastward, and will not mention in the forecast. We do expect scattered afternoon showers over interior and leeward sections of those islands. A surface ridge building in to the north and northeast of the area tonight and Thursday will force the dissipating front further to the west of our area. The ridge will also result in strengthening trade winds beginning Thursday night and continuing into the weekend. A building ridge aloft should provide more stable conditions, although lingering low level moisture should provide a rather showery trade wind pattern for windward and mauka areas with some showers spilling over leeward through Saturday. Longer range models show a significantly drier airmass moving into the state from the east beginning on Sunday and remaining in place into next week. This airmass change combined with continued ridging aloft should produce a rather dry trade wind pattern during that time. && .AVIATION... Southerly winds will persist across the island chain today, as a surface front remains stationary northwest of Kauai. The western end of the state will likely to be affected by the unsettled weather as it is closest to the front, with the potential for locally heavy rain and a slight chance of thunderstorms continues through much of the day. AIRMET SIERRA for mountain obscuration remains in effect for Kauai, and may extend to the other islands if conditions warrant. && .MARINE... Heavy showers and thunderstorms associated with a cold front and broad upper low stalled west-northwest of the state will continue to impact portions of the waters today, mainly the Kauai waters. Trade winds and drier air are expected to return through the second half of the week and into the upcoming weekend as high pressure builds north of the region and the stalled cold front shifts away from the islands. The local winds are forecast to remain out of the southeast in the light to moderate range through Thursday, then increase into the fresh to strong category Friday through the upcoming weekend as the trades return. Small craft advisory conditions will become a possibility across the typically windier channels between Maui County and the Big Island beginning Friday. After a jump start to the winter season along north and west facing shores last week through this past weekend, surf is expected to remain around and below average through the upcoming weekend. The largest surf through this forecast period is expected today as a medium sized west-northwest (310-330 deg) swell continues to fill in. Breakers will likely reach advisory levels (15 ft faces) on Kauai and remain below along exposed coasts from Oahu to the Big Island as the swell builds down the island chain. Observations at the offshore buoys northwest of Kauai quickly ramped above WAVEWATCH III guidance yesterday through early this morning. This was due to a combination of the new west-northwest swell and the persistent line of thunderstorms associated with the cold front stalled west of the area (locally strong southerly winds with gusts to 30+ kt in and around the storms most of the night). The ECMWF-Wave solution picked up on this and reflected the higher than expected seas locally at/around these offshore buoys. Observations at the nearshore buoys, however, are remaining in line with guidance this morning as the new swell builds down the island chain. Will slightly nudge the surf forecast lower than previously advertised, but stay with the advisory over Kauai. A long-period west-northwest (310-320 deg) swell associated a hurricane-force low that developed near the Kuril Islands this past Monday as Typhoon Saola lifted north and became extratropical is expected to fill in late Thursday night and hold into the weekend. Although ASCAT passes over this fetch region showed a large area of gale- to storm-force winds focused toward the islands, this fetch area was limited due to the Kuril Islands. As a result, surf should peak well below the November average Friday. Surf along east facing shores will begin to rise Friday through the upcoming weekend as the trades return and strengthen locally and upstream of the islands. South along south facing will remain small through the weekend with mainly small background long-period energy expected. For the outlook, guidance depicts a decent sized batch of gale- to storm- force southerly winds focused toward the islands within 170-180 deg band through today located around 1500 NM east of New Zealand. WAVEWATCH III depicts a long-period south (170-180 deg) swell filling in locally Tuesday night into Wednesday (2-3 ft) of next week. For more detailed information on the surf for Oahu, see the latest collaborative forecast at: www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/SRF.php && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flash Flood Watch through this afternoon for Niihau-Kauai. High Surf Advisory until 6 PM HST this evening for north and west facing shores of Niihau and Kauai. && DISCUSSION...Jacobson AVIATION...Hui MARINE...Gibbs
The South Kauai radar (PHKI), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:01 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Kauai Emergency Management Agency reported that Kuhio Highway near the Hanalei bridge was closed due to flooding waters from the Hanalei River.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
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