Hawaii's Weather Forecast Warns Of 'Catastrophic Flooding' & They Just Had A Blizzard
Some parts of Hawaii could see up to 2 feet of rain 😧
If you thought you'd be able to escape the brutal December weather with a trip to Hawaii, we've got some bad news.
Weather officials just issued a flood watch for every island in Hawaii, and it comes right after a winter blizzard warning was issued for Big Island over the weekend.
"Heavy rainfall" is expected to dump 10-15 inches of rain on parts of Hawaii between Monday and Wednesday, and the National Weather Service says there could be "catastrophic flooding" as a result.
The NWS says nearly a foot of rain has already fallen in some areas, and the hardest-hit spots could see a total of 20-25 inches of rainfall.
Videos posted online show that some roads are already flooded.
So.. it starting raining a bitpic.twitter.com/lCFwNIP9gp— \ud83e\udd8a kodi \ud83d\udc36 (@\ud83e\udd8a kodi \ud83d\udc36) 1638734083
Maui County, Oahu and Kauai are expected to face the worst of it, and the NWS says that winds will also be quite strong with gusts of up to 50 mph.
Driving is going to be difficult, "numerous" landslides are expected and there could be severe flash flooding in urban areas, "especially on Oahu," the NWS says.
Snow fell on some of Hawaii's highest volcanoes during a blizzard over the weekend, closing access to the summit of Mauna Loa and leaving behind some pretty amazing photo opportunities.
There was a light snowfall last night along with some icy conditions at the summit! While not suitable for observing last night, it did leave us with a gorgeous view this morning!\n\n#Maunakea #Snowpic.twitter.com/1maXmrZhr3— CFHT (@CFHT) 1638298813
The wild weather is due to a Kona low, which is a form of low-pressure storm that sometimes affects Hawaii in the winter, according to AccuWeather.
The NWS says this particular Kona low is "unusually strong."
This article's left-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.