Heavy Rain, Hawaii
- When
- February 17, 5:12 PM HST to 8:09 PM HST
- Where
- Hawaii County, 2.5 mi N of Volcano to 6.62 mi SW of Naalehu
- Reported by
- Official NWS Observations
- Coordinates
- 19.456, -155.225
Heavy Rain in Hawaii, February 17 to 19, 2022
As an upper trough persisted over the island chain, heavy showers developed over the Big Island and Maui on different days. The precipitation produced small stream and drainage ditch flooding, and ponding on roadways.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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.
As an upper trough persisted over the island chain, heavy showers developed over the Big Island and Maui on different days. The precipitation produced small stream and drainage ditch flooding, and ponding on roadways. No serious injuries or property damage were reported.
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 Feb 17, 3:43 PM HST, 1 hour 29 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 17, 3:43 PM HST, 1 hour 29 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Honolulu HI 343 PM HST Thu Feb 17 2022 .SYNOPSIS... Light to moderate trades will continue through Friday, with clouds and showers favoring windward and mauka locations. Expect increased showers over the Big Island through tonight due to an upper trough across the area. Winds will shift out of the north-northeast over the weekend, with the best rainfall chances remaining over and around the Big Island. && .DISCUSSION... Models show trade wind weather continuing through Friday, with clouds and showers favoring windward and mauka locations. A weak surface trough across the islands will keep northeast trades over Kauai and Oahu, with east to southeast winds holding over the eastern end of the state. Although upper troughing may trigger increased showers over the Big Island, most of the enhanced shower activity should remain east of the state where a plume of deep moisture is located. This upper trough is forecast to fill and lift northeast of the area late in the weekend. Over the weekend and early next week, winds are forecast to back to a more northerly direction as a ridge noses southeastward into the area. For Oahu and Kauai, limited moisture will restrict rainfall chances. For the eastern end of the state, a plume of deeper moisture lingering in the area, combined with a passing upper trough, will enhance rainfall chances. && .AVIATION... Modestly unstable but dry trades will focus limited cloud and shower activity over windward and mauka zones of the smaller islands for the remainder of the forecast period with just a slight increase in shower coverage anticipated overnight. Any showers have the potential to produce locally heavy rain and transient IFR conditions. Although a surface trough may bring increased organization and greater coverage of showers and attendant MVFR to the central and western portions of the state tonight, moisture availability is still expected to be a limiting factor. As such, the greatest concentration of showers and highest probability for MVFR will remain focused over Windward Big Island. Although the threat for thunder has greatly diminished over land, isolated thunderstorms will be possible over the windward nearshore waters of the Big Island through tonight. AIRMET Tango for moderate upper turb between FL200 and FL320 remains in effect. && .MARINE... A surface trough remains over the eastern end of the state and is producing scattered thunderstorms and gale force winds just east of the trough and over the eastern offshore waters. Gale force winds are expected to continue over the eastern and southeastern edge of the offshore waters through tonight then weaken on Friday. Over the Hawaiian waters, we currently have light to moderate northeast to east winds across the state. With the trough lingering near the state through the weekend, we will continue to see light to locally moderate northeast winds through the weekend and likely into early next week. The gale force winds in the offshore waters is currently producing elevated seas over the Big Island Windward waters. Seas should drop below advisory thresholds on Friday. The current west-northwest swell continues to lower this afternoon and surf has dropped below advisory thresholds. The High Surf Advisory has been cancelled for all north and west facing shores. A pair of moderate northwest swells are expected Friday through the weekend. The first one will begin to arrive sometime during the day Friday and will be followed by a slightly larger northwest swell on Saturday. The swell on Saturday could get near High Surf Advisory levels briefly late Saturday into Saturday night. As the northwest swell decreases Sunday, a small north swell with a wave period of around 10 seconds may arrive, which might provide a slight boost in surf heights along north facing shores early next week. Surf along select east facing shores over on the Big Island and Maui is currently seeing surf near the advisory threshold. This swell was caused by the gale force winds in the offshore waters. This short-period wind swell is expected to steadily decrease tonight into Friday and hold at moderate levels through the weekend. Surf along south facing shores has returned to background levels and will remain small through next week. && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Small Craft Advisory until 6 AM HST Friday for Big Island Windward Waters. && DISCUSSION...Powell AVIATION...JVC MARINE...Kino
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
2 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy Rain, Maui
- When
- February 19, 7:09 AM HST to 9:57 AM HST
- Where
- Maui County, 1.48 mi W of Nahiku to 0.48 mi WNW of Kaupo
- Reported by
- Official NWS Observations
- Coordinates
- 20.827, -156.123
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
- Marine Strong Wind in Gulf of Mexico, February 17, 2022
- Winter Storm in Kansas, February 17, 2022
- Winter Storm in Indiana, February 17, 2022
- Strong Wind in Alabama, February 17, 2022
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Ohio, February 17 to 18, 2022
- Flooding and Strong Wind in New York, February 17 to 19, 2022
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Kentucky, February 17 to 28, 2022
- Flooding in Ohio, February 17 to 18, 2022
- Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, February 17, 2022
- Winter Weather in Indiana, February 17, 2022
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Missouri, February 17, 2022
- Flooding in Ohio, February 17 to 19, 2022
More
Every storm in Hawaii in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, February 2022
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: 1001238, 1001239.