Bands of persistent heavy rainfall moved over Kauai from the southeast at rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Water levels rose on streams across much of the island, especially in the South Fork Wailua and Hanalei Rivers.
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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.
Bands of persistent heavy rainfall moved over Kauai from the southeast at rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Water levels rose on streams across much of the island, especially in the South Fork Wailua and Hanalei Rivers. Runoff impacted vulnerable low lying areas and roads.
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 18, 9:35 AM HST, 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Honolulu HI 935 AM HST Sat Feb 18 2023 .SYNOPSIS... An upper low southwest of the main Hawaiian Islands continues to pull a large band of deep tropical moisture northward within converging east to southeast surface flow. This moisture band will keep widespread rainfall in the forecast, heavy at times, with thunderstorms possible across much of the state into Sunday. The upper low will slowly weaken from Sunday into Monday, causing a decrease in rainfall. Showers may develop again Tuesday and Wednesday as another cut off low drops in west of the islands. More stable conditions return by Thursday as high pressure builds in from the northeast. && .DISCUSSION... Satellite loop shows an upper low southwest of the main Hawaiian Islands drawing up a deep unstable plume of tropical moisture across the state. A surface trough with strong divergence aloft will produce continued wet weather statewide into Sunday. Moderate to heavy rainfall, with possible thunderstorms, remain in the forecast for all islands. Southeasterly wind flow has fueled total rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches across southeast portions of the Big Island over the past 24 hours. This pattern persists this morning. A Flood Watch remains in effect for all Hawaiian Islands through this afternoon due to continued moderate to heavy rainfall on already saturated soil. This Flood Watch may need to be extended into Sunday for parts of the state as threats for flooding may continue for some islands. A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for the Big Island summits until 6 PM HST this evening and will likely be extended into Sunday. The upper low will slowly weaken through Sunday, decreasing rainfall impacts over the next 24 to 36 hours. Winds will shift to easterly trade winds over the eastern islands by Sunday as high pressure builds in from the northeast, pushing the tropical moisture plume westward and decreasing rainfall trends for these islands. Trades will spread to the western islands, heralding a brief decrease in shower intensity across the eastern islands from Monday into early Tuesday. Models show another cut off low dropping into the region west of the state early next week. This may pull tropical moisture northward across the islands from late Monday into Wednesday, fueling another period of enhanced shower activity, this time across the western islands of Kauai, Niihau and Oahu. Expect high pressure to build in from the northeast late next week, producing more stable conditions as breezy to windy trades push the unstable tropical moisture band further westward away from the islands. && .AVIATION... A moist and unstable airmass will remain over the Hawaiian islands through tomorrow. Currently a disorganized band of showers continues to supply the islands with MVFR conditions. Within these showers are embedded IFR conditions. The focus for most of these showers continues to be the southeastern slopes of the Big Island where ceilings and visibility are in the IFR category. However heavy showers with IFR conditions could still spread to other islands today. Light to moderate southeast winds will then become breezy out of ESE during the latter half of the day. AIRMET Sierra for mountain obscuration is in effect for Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Molokai AIRMET IFR is in effect for portions of the Big Island. AIRMET Tango for moderate turbulence in the FL180/FL420 layer is in effect for the entire area. SIGMET series Victor covers an area of severe turbulence over the Hawaiian Islands. AIRMET Zulu for moderate icing in the FL140/FL250 layer is in effect for Oahu through Big Island. && .MARINE... Have increased wave heights some this morning across much of the windward waters to account for the latest observational buoy data. Otherwise, strong high pressure well northeast of the state will keep fresh to strong east to southeast winds in place across the windward waters through the weekend, with lighter winds continuing over most leeward waters. Winds will strengthen and become more easterly next week, with strong to near-gale force winds gradually expanding to more marine zones as the week progresses. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains in effect through 6 PM today for all windward waters due to a combination of winds and seas. This SCA will likely be extended tonight through Monday, and expanded to include more typical windy areas around Big Island and portions of Maui leeward areas, due to a combination of wind and seas. Surf will remain elevated today along east facing shores, and will remain elevated for the next 7 days due to persistent fresh to strong east to southeast winds. A High Surf Advisory remains in effect for these areas until 6 PM this evening. However, current observational data supports surf along east facing shores falling below advisory thresholds briefly tonight and Sunday, before potentially building back to advisory levels Sunday night through late next week. No other significant swells are expected through late next week, with only small surf expected along north, west, and south facing shores. && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch through this afternoon for all Hawaiian Islands. High Surf Advisory until 6 PM HST this evening for Olomana-Maui Windward West-Kauai East-Kauai South-Koolau Windward-Molokai Windward-Molokai Southeast-Windward Haleakala-Kipahulu-Big Island Southeast-Big Island East-Big Island North. Winter Storm Warning until 6 PM HST this evening for Big Island Summits. Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST this evening for Kauai Northwest Waters-Kauai Windward Waters-Kauai Channel-Oahu Windward Waters-Kaiwi Channel-Maui County Windward Waters- Pailolo Channel-Alenuihaha Channel-Big Island Windward Waters- Big Island Southeast Waters. && DISCUSSION...Powell AVIATION...Tsamous MARINE...Rozanski/Gibbs
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
623 AM HST SAT FEB 18 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM FLASH FLOOD 2 ESE HILO 19.69N 155.06W
02/18/2023 HAWAII HI EMERGENCY MNGR
CORRECTS PREVIOUS FLOOD REPORT FROM 2 ESE
HILO. E. KAWAILANI STREET ROAD CLOSURE -
BOTH LANES.
&&
JNSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
629 AM HST SAT FEB 18 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM FLASH FLOOD 2 ENE HILO 19.71N 155.06W
02/18/2023 HAWAII HI EMERGENCY MNGR
RAILROAD AVENUE ROAD CLOSURE - BOTH LANES
FROM E. LANIKAULA ST. TO KUKIL ST.
&&
JNSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
632 AM HST SAT FEB 18 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM FLASH FLOOD 2 ENE HILO 19.70N 155.06W
02/18/2023 HAWAII HI EMERGENCY MNGR
KUKILA STREET ROAD CLOSURE BOTH LANES
CLOSED.
&&
JNSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
710 AM HST SAT FEB 18 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM FLASH FLOOD 1 S WOOD VALLEY 19.26N 155.47W
02/18/2023 HAWAII HI EMERGENCY MNGR
WOOD VALLEY ROAD ROAD CLOSURE - BOTH LANES.
&&
JNSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
842 AM HST SAT FEB 18 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM FLASH FLOOD PAHALA 19.21N 155.48W
02/18/2023 HAWAII HI EMERGENCY MNGR
PIAKE ST AND LLIMA ST. WATER FLOODING
BRIDGE. PAAUAU GULCH AT PAHALA.
&&
JNSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
938 AM HST SAT FEB 18 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 AM FLASH FLOOD 1 SSW PAHALA 19.19N 155.49W
02/18/2023 HAWAII HI EMERGENCY MNGR
KAALAIKI ROAD, MAILE STREET/PAHALA TRANSFER
STATION TO HIGHWAY 11 ROAD CLOSURE - BOTH
DIRECTIONS.
&&
JNSThe South Kauai radar (PHKI), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:11 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Maalo Road was closed beginning at 2:00pm near Wailua Falls Lookout due to flash flooding. Additionally, flash flooding also forced the closure of the cement bridge near Kawaihau.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Hawaii in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, February 2023
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: 1075380.