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COURTESY NOAA / NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
This satellite image from 5:30 p.m. shows mostly cloudy conditions over Kauai and Oahu. Showers and locally heavy rain are likely for those islands, forecasters say.
A storm that caused waterspouts in the Kauai Channel and brought heavy rain to Kauai has prompted weather officials to issue a flood advisory for Oahu.
Weather radar at 7:25 p.m. Thursday showed showers soaking Kaaawa, which just a few hours earlier had been recording rainfall at a rate of over 1 inch an hour, officials at the National Weather Service said. The advisory lasted through 10:45 p.m.
An airline pilot reported several waterspouts in the Kauai Channel 3 to 8 miles east of Lihue at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
A marine warning for the Kauai Channel and Kauai and Oahu windward waters was allowed to expire at 10:30 a.m. But a small craft advisory is in effect for Kauai waters until 6 p.m. because of gusty trade winds.
Heavy rain and flooding conditions on Kauai also forced the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to close the Kalalau Trail.
The department said roads to the trailhead on Kauai’s North Shore are nearly impassable.
Light winds Wednesday over Oahu became northeast trade winds Thursday afternoon as the weather system approached.
Derek Wroe, a meteorologist with the Honolulu office of the National Weather Service, said most of the moisture associated with the weather system will remain over Kauai. But Oahu should see an increase in trade wind showers that could move over leeward areas.
The National Weather Service said cloudy skies and showers will continue into the weekend as another weather system brings unstable conditions to the islands through President’s Day.
“We probably won’t see the sun for at least several days,” Wroe said.
Kona winds could bring haze and muggy weather starting Sunday along with the potential of heavy rains.
The forecast for the Great Aloha Run calls for a 90 percent chance of rain, possibly heavy at times, on President’s Day in Honolulu.
Vog could also be a factor Sunday and Monday, although rains may wash the vog away by the Monday morning start of the Great Aloha Run.
