LIHUE — It’s going to be a rainy weekend, according to National Weather Service forecasts, with a snippet of calm weather settling in Sunday.
“Long-range models are looking wet through next week,” said NWS forecaster Tom Birchard.
Birchard said there’s a strong, high-pressure system north of the islands, and a low-pressure system that developed over the past 24 hours east of the Big Island — and it’s all connected to the large-scale pattern that’s producing “unsettled” weather throughout the state.
“It’s the squeeze effect between those two (the high- and low-pressure systems), and this pattern has been in place the whole time,” Birchard said Thursday. “There are thunderstorms in the forecast through Saturday.”
Thursday, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative urged members to be prepared for high winds, which could cause power outages. Winds Thursday night and early this morning were expected to be sustained at 30 miles per hour, with 50 mph gusts.
Winds are expected to decrease through Sunday. Basically, that’s because that low-pressure system is drifting west and will pass close to Kauai on Sunday, calming the winds.
On Kauai, rainfall totals were variable for the 24 hours ending at 2 p.m. Thursday — Hanalei gauge recorded 1.52 inches in that time period, Mount Waialeale recorded 5.02 inches, Moloaa recorded 1.05 inches, Kapahi recorded 2.82 inches, and Wailua recorded 3.17 inches.
On the west and south sides of the island, Poipu recorded zero inches of rain, while Omao recorded 1.48 inches, Port Allen recorded 0.16 inches, and Waimea recorded 0.07 inches.
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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
