Jimena weakened to a tropical depression north of the main Hawaiian islands as it continued to cut off the tradewinds, bringing uncomfortable muggy weather and the chance of afternoon showers.

But forecasters warn the weather will get hotter, more muggy and rainy after Jimena starts to move away Thursday.

“After it gets west or northwest of us is when the potential for heavy rainfall will increase,” said Tom Birchard, a meteorologist with the Honolulu office of the National Weather Service. “There’s a bit of a tail of convergence that will extend from Jimena to the southeast with lots of moisture.”

A flash flood watch for Oahu, Maui County and Kauai County is scheduled to go into effect Thursday afternoon and run through Saturday afternoon.

At 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jimena’s sustained winds were at 35 mph, about 265 miles north-northeast of Honolulu and 275 miles northeast of Lihue. The storm was moving west-southwest at 9 mph.

For Wednesday, forecasters expect light, variable winds, muggy conditions, and sunny skies in the morning, becoming cloudy in the afternoon with scattered showers and the chance of showers lessening at night.

Hawaii island could see an increase in showers starting Wednesday night.

The vog that had been over Oahu over the weekend moved south, but will likely return when winds turn southerly after Jimena passes, Birchard said.

“Rain chances will increase with some locally heavy downpours possible as a moist and continued humid southeasterly flow sets up over the islands,” the National Weather Service said.

Burchard said the moisture over the state from Jimena may clear by the end of the weekend and tradewinds could return early next week.

But the weather will likely remain hotter and more humid than normal through the end of October because of unusually warm ocean temperatures around Hawaii from El Nino.

“It will be fairly warm and fairly humid for the next two months,” Burchard said.