HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Your First Alert Weather Team has declared today a FIRST ALERT WEATHER DAYS as a large and powerful Kona storm moves north of the state and continues to pull up deep tropical moisture and heavy rain at times over all islands.
The storm is expected to bring an extended period of flash flooding, damaging winds, and strong thunderstorms as it extends east to Maui County and Hawaii Island into most of Saturday evening.
The Flood Watch has come to an end for Kauai, and will end for Oahu Saturday night. The Flood Watch remains in effect for Maui County and Hawaii Island into Sunday.
Expect a combination of threats ranging from significant flash flooding, damaging winds, strong to severe thunderstorms, and snow and ice over the highest Big Island summits.
Southerly to southwesterly winds will be strongest from today and will produce damaging wind gusts. South shore surf is peaking today just below advisory levels. Hawaii Island along Kona has been seeing powerful gusts up to 75 mph.
View all current weather alerts here.
Hour-by-hour timeline
Here is the latest breakdown of the data from our First Alert Weather team. We will be monitoring this storm throughout the week so check back for updates.
Saturday, March 14
Afternoon: Thunderstorms will be present over the eastern half of the state throughout Saturday afternoon. The initial band of thunderstorms could stall over eastern Maui Saturday afternoon and evening.
Pop-up and more scattered thunderstorms are expected for Hawaii Island. However, strong south winds are still expected throughout Saturday for Hawaii Island. Current models hint at higher rainfall totals for the Kona side of Hawaii Island. This will be particularly intense over Maui County and Hawaii Island, where the main rainband will remain nearly stationary.
Night: Thunderstorms will also continue during this period. The stalled band could remain between Maui and Hawaii Island throughout the night, exacerbating the flooding risk. The flooding threat will start to decrease for Kauai and Oahu throughout Sunday.
Sunday, March 15
The flooding threat continues to decrease for Kauai and Oahu throughout Sunday. However, the ground will be so saturated that any additional rainfall could lead to quick runoff and flash flooding. Any individual pop-up storm may lead to more runoff.
Flash flooding and breezy southwest winds are still expected for Maui County and Hawaii Island on Sunday, potentially extending into Monday for Hawaii Island.
RELATED COVERAGE
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