Storm brings serious flash flooding to Hawaii

A major cold-season Kona storm system is bringing significant precipitation totals to Hawaii, including up to 25 inches of rain, a foot of mountain snow and hurricane-force winds on the summits of the Big Island. A rare blizzard warning was issued for Mauna Kea, whose nearly 14,000foot summit was a winter wonderland over the weekend.

Flood watches are up for the entire island chain, with flash flood warnings issued for the middle of the archipelago. Record cool temperatures are also visiting the nation’s 50th state, made to feel cooler by winds gusting up to 50 mph even in the lowlands.

The dichotomous weather will make it technically possible to ski and surf in the same hour for residents of the Big Island.

Moderate to heavy rainfall was ongoing on western parts of the Big Island, Maui, Lanai and Molokai early Monday, the rain pushing toward Oahu and Kauai as another round of invigorated precipitation worked north and west. Maui and Molokai were under flash flood warnings, as heavy rain with rates topping an inch per hour brought “significant and life threatening flooding in drainages, streams, rivers, roads, properties, and other low lying areas,” the National Weather Service in Honolulu said.