Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Moderate to heavy showers could produce flash flooding today in areas of Maui already saturated by recent rainfall, according to the National Weather
Service.
A flash flood watch remains in effect for Maui at least through 6 a.m.
Persistent rain resulted in flooding, rockslides and fallen trees along Hana Highway on Sunday and Monday.
About 14 inches of rain was recorded in Wailuaiki over a 36-hour period spanning Sunday and early Monday.
Rain with rates of an inch an hour fell along windward East Maui on Monday
morning. The more than
1.16 inches of rain that fell at the Kahului Airport on Sunday broke a record for the
date. The old record of
0.39 inches was set May 8, 1996.
The threat of more rain continues as a cold front that passed over Oahu and Kauai over the weekend remains stalled near Maui.
The weather service warned that continued rain could result in further mudslides along Hana Highway.
A cool pocket of air was expected to create instability overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
The dissipating front is expected to affect the windward areas of Maui County and Hawaii island for most of the week, with drier conditions and locally breezy trades over Kauai and Oahu.
Tradewinds will weaken later in the week as a high-pressure system weakens in the northeast and a low-pressure system approaches from the north. The midlevel ridge will also erode, which could cause the lingering moisture over the east end of the state to move westward across the island chain.
The weather service predicted that surf along all shores will remain below advisory levels over the coming week, with buoys showing that the passing short-period north swell peaked Monday at 5 to
6 feet.
Larger seas were detected off Maui, likely due to
stronger wind.
A small, long-period northwest well could arrive by Friday and last through the weekend.
77