Southwest to west winds strengthened as a low pressure area moved toward the islands from the north, and gusts were above 80 knots at times for the highest elevations in the state on the Big Island of Hawaii. There were no reports of significant injuries or property damage.
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The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.
Southwest to west winds strengthened as a low pressure area moved toward the islands from the north, and gusts were above 80 knots at times for the highest elevations in the state on the Big Island of Hawaii. There were no reports of significant injuries or property damage.
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 17, 10:13 AM HST, 26 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Honolulu HI 1013 AM HST Fri Nov 17 2017 .SYNOPSIS... Low pressure far to the north of the islands will drop south over the next couple of days, weakening our trades. A weak cold front will come through the islands later Satuday, accompanied by a band of clouds and showers. After the front comes through, cool, breezy northwesterlies are expected Saturday night through Monday. The low to our north will move away from the islands Tuesday and Wednesday, and trades will gradually return. A large, strong high pressure area to our north is expected to bring windy trades for Thanksgiving. && .DISCUSSION... A vertically stacked low about 1250 mi N of Honolulu is dropping S at about 20 kt. The low is already weakening the local pressure gradient over the islands, with trades down quite a bit from yesterday's levels. The local airmass is relatively stable and dry, with precipitable water below 0.9" on both soundings at 12z, and a weak inversion near 6500-7500 feet. The flow was weak enough to clear out the Big Island last night, as well as most interior and leeward sections. Updated the forecast earlier for more sunshine and lower PoPs on the Big Island today. Expecting a pretty nice day, with just some windward clouds and a couple of mainly light showers over windward sections of mainly the smaller islands. As the low to the N drops S, the flow over the islands will continue to weaken. The dewpoints are low enough so that even with the lighter winds, it should not be too uncomfortable for most folks. By tonight the low will be close enough to turn the winds over the northern main islands to northerly. Land breezes are expected to dominate elsewhere with mainly clear skies. The models are showing a weak cold front associated with the low dropping S over Kauai and Oahu Saturday afternoon. This front will have limited low level moisture to work with, but accompanied by some mid-level support with a shot of colder air aloft. This will increase clouds and showers somewhat there, while the other islands continue to have lots of sunshine with only limited cloudiness. The front will herald a modest increase in wind speeds along with lower dewpoints, making it feel a bit chilly by Hawaii standards. On Sunday, with the low about 600-700 miles to our NE, we should have cool northwesterly breezes blowing statewide with sea level dewpoints down into the 50s in many locations. Very cold air in the mid-levels (especially over the northern main islands) should provide enough instability to maintain scattered showers, even with relatively scarce moisture by local standards. The ECMWF has not really trended any colder since yesterday, but the GFS has trended closer to the ECMWF solution, so at this point expecting any thundery showers to remain N of the coastal waters. On Monday the low will start to pull away off to the NE, and strong high pressure far to the NW will begin nudging southward. Our low level flow will remain northwesterly, but will veer to northerly Monday night into Tuesday, and locally breezy trades returning to most locales Tuesday night. The high will press south a little more as we head toward Thanksgiving, with windy trades expected for the holiday. Moisture will remain limited during this period, so aside from a few minor bands of showers riding in on the low level flow, the weather should fairly dry and nice. && .AVIATION... No AIRMETs are in effect, and none are expected today. VFR conditions are expected to prevail, except for brief MVFR conditions in clouds and showers that would primarily impact the north through east sections of the smaller islands. Clear skies over the Big Island will likely give way to some clouds later today. && .MARINE... Guidance supports generally light to moderate northerly flow holding through Saturday, then northwesterly on Sunday and Monday as low pressure associated with this frontal boundary stalls several hundred nautical miles north of the state. Winds should remain below advisory levels through the weekend, but the rather unusual wind directions will result in different areas of terrain acceleration and deceleration, such as through the Kaulakahi Channel on Saturday and Saturday night. Trades return Tuesday and beyond. Incoming northerly swells will likely bring the seas up to and above advisory levels beginning Sunday, then potentially remaining at or above advisory levels through much of the upcoming week. Very cold mid-level temperatures (sub-zero C at 700 mb) over the northern offshore waters Saturday night and Sunday, associated with the low several hundred miles to the northeast of Hawaii, could result in a few thundershowers in that area. At this point, these are not expected to sneak into the northern coastal waters, but will keep an eye on model trends. Surf along north facing shores will remain up through much of the period due to overlapping northerly swells moving through the local waters. The anomalous pattern across the northern Pacific featuring storms diving southward across the eastern Pacific from the Aleutians to near the islands due to a blocking ridge established over the the central Pacific is projected to continue through next week. The latest analysis showed a strong pressure gradient between 1044 mb high pressure center near the Aleutians around 45N and 1008 mb low centered several hundred nautical miles to its east. Recent ASCAT passes overnight and yesterday showed a decent sized area of gale-force northerly winds between these two synoptic features around 1300 nm north of the islands. Altimeter passes within this area showed seas up to 17-20 ft. Guidance remains in decent agreement and shows the northerly swell associated with this source filling in late Saturday night, peaking Sunday, then holding through Monday before slowly easing Tuesday. Surf along north facing shores will near if not exceed warning levels around the peak Sunday, then remain above advisory levels Monday. As the swell is peaking along north facing shores Sunday, the progressive pattern across the northeast Pacific is projected to continue as another gale- to storm-force low emerges over the Gulf of Alaska near Kodiak Island and tracks southeastward toward the Pacific NW states Monday through Tuesday. A reinforcing northerly swell associated with this source is expected to fill in by midweek and will likely translate to surf nearing the warning mark along north facing shores once again. This source will hold through the second half of the week, potentially becoming reinforced with a similar source Thursday night into the following weekend. Surf along south and west facing shores will remain small with mainly long-period south-southwest swells expected. A slight increase in surf will be possible over the weekend from recent activity across the southern Pacific. See the latest collaborative nearshore and swell forecast for Oahu for more details on the surf at: www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/SRF.php && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && R Ballard/M Ballard/Brenchley
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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, November 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: 723576.