A fierce cold front hammered the Hawaiian Islands Sunday through Monday, with heavy rain flooding roadways, powerful winds knocking down trees, and power lines and snow showers coating the highest peaks. By Wednesday, the skies were mostly clear, and quiet weather is forecast through Christmas, but the islands are still cleaning up the mess created by the unusually strong system.
"I would say the combination of threats from the flash flooding and the very strong winds, and then getting those in combination with instability that supported a lot of thunderstorms, including some severe thunderstorms, that was fairly unique," said Joseph Clark, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "This was a notable storm."
Heavy rain first developed across the islands early Sunday. Heavy rain continued through the day, and at night, the winds started to pick up. On Monday, the storm shifted to the east and became focused on Maui and the island of Hawaii, which saw the most severe weather in this event.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before, never,” Paula Nurse, a resident of Ahualoa on the Big Island, told Hawaii News Now. “I’ve been here 30 years and we’ve had some bad situations up here ― flooding and winds and stuff ― but this was by far the scariest and the worst one.”
Small hail was reported at sea level on Oahu, the Big Island and Lanai, Clark said. Both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island received over a foot of snow and were blasted by strong winds.
"The highest wind gust that I saw was over 140 mph on Mauna Kea," Clark said. "Winds getting up around 100 mph isn't unusual in the winter. I would say winds this strong happen every couple years, every two or three years."
A tree lays toppled by a winter storm in Mililani, Hawaii, on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. A strong winter storm downed trees, knocked out power and dropped snow on the Big Island's tallest mountains as it moved across the Hawaiian Islands.
Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation/APThe National Weather Service issued a smattering of flash flood warnings as rain soaked the islands. Maui and Hawaii counties saw the highest rainfall totals. A gauge at Kawainui Stream on the Big Island recorded 8.45 inches, Poamoho on Oahu 5.26 and Kilohana on Kauai 5.03, according to the National Weather Service.
"There were a lot of road closures, debris washed over roads, especially on leeward Maui, especially places like Kihei," said Clark. "The most widespread flooding impacts were on the leeward side of the Big Island, which isn’t accustomed to getting that much rain. They had a lot of road closures and mud and debris over the roads."
Clark said that on Oahu he observed a lot of fallen trees. "Some of that was from the wind, and a lot of that was from the heavy rain saturating the ground," he said. "Once the ground is saturated, the winds can more easily blow down trees."
Hawaii News Now reported that 40,000 people on the island of Hawaii temporarily lost power.
Maui County said on Wednesday that South Kihei Road was closed from Ohukai to Uwapo Road for cleanup of trees and debris.
Hawaii Airlines announced flight disruptions due to the extreme weather. A Hawaiian Airlines plane traveling from Phoenix to Honolulu on Sunday encountered severe turbulence, seriously injuring 11 people. The incident is under investigation. "The plane was coming in early on in this storm; there were a lot of heavy showers, thunderstorms developing," Clark said.
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