Rain to ease, but not yet

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Get used to the gloom, at least for another day, maybe two.

The National Weather Service today forecast drier conditions beginning tonight on Kaua'i and working its way southwest over the next few days.

But the heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms — forecast for all of today — are expected to continue tonight, said Tim Craig, lead forecaster today for the weather service.

It was so soggy this morning that the weather service posted an urban and small stream flood advisory for O'ahu through 11 p.m. today. Because the ground is already saturated, additional rain could produce flooding.

And it will get wetter before it gets better.

"It depends on where you are going to be," Craig said. "As far as O'ahu, today and tonight will be wet and we might see some improvement early Tuesday."

Maui County will be a different story. Craig expects the unstable air mass over the islands to stall over Maui and dump heavy showers through tomorrow night.

Rainfall along the Ko'olau this weekend was heavy, especially Saturday, with as much as 12 inches falling in Kane'ohe during a 48-hour period ending at 4 a.m. today.

Rain in Lihu'e set a record yesterday that had stood on that date since 1956. The new record, 3.41 inches, drowned the old total of 1.99 inches. By comparison, the last 24 hours, ending at 8 a.m. today, seemed light. But rain was everywhere, Craig said.

"We had stuff on the normally dry Leeward Coast and on the windward side, too," he said. "All the rain gauges on O'ahu recorded precipitation."

Of course, all this rain is good for green things on O'ahu. And officials at the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, which last week ended four months of voluntary conservation measures, were ecstatic this morning.

"It's a very good thing," said Wanda Yamane, spokeswoman for the water board.

It will take months, however, for the weekend rain to soak into the island's aquifer and replenish supplies, she said.

"Just because you get rainfall doesn't mean you can use water with complete abandon," she said. "You have be mindful of what you have."

The weather service predicts the tradewinds will return Thursday.

And the sunshine? That depends on where you are.

"It will be partly cloudy," Craig said, "but it won't be this gloomy stuff."