Oahu, Kauai County remain under flash flood watch

Oahu and Kauai County remain under a flash flood watch today after heavy rain over downtown prompted a flood advisory that has since been canceled.

Radar at 6:11 a.m. showed rain falling at up to 2 inches per hour over downtown and surrounding areas, according to the National Weather Service.

The advisory was canceled at 7:53 a.m. However, the flash flood watch remains in effect through Wednesday night.

Unsettled weather, with periods of rain, meanwhile, will prevail over most of the state in the next few days as an area of low pressure to the northwest moves closer. A muggy, southerly wind flow is expected, with some heavy showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the next day or two, but rains should dissipate toward the end of the week.

A slow-moving front is expected to reach Kauai this afternoon, then weaken to a trough as it approaches Oahu early Wednesday morning.

“It loses its identity thereafter, becoming more of a convergent area consisting of Oahu and Maui county on Wednesday, while the upper and surface lows nears Kauai,” NWS officials said in a bulletin. “This is all setting up to be an even messier scenario in the next 36 hours, with showers, some heavy at times across these two counties in particular. Thunderstorms comes into play as well beginning Wednesday evening due to the increasing upper level support from the approaching upper low.”

The flash flood watch currently in effect for Oahu and Kauai will likely include Maui tonight.

A small craft advisory for seas around Kauai is in effect from 6 p.m. tonight to 6 a.m. tomorrow.