The moist weather is expected to last through the weekend with the greatest chance of rain over Kaua'i and O'ahu, the National Weather Service forecast today. Fewer showers are forecast for the rest of the Islands.

Christmas Eve lows will be 65 to 72 degrees, with Christmas day high temperatures in the mid to high 70s.

But the weather will not be as ugly as it was yesterday, when low rain clouds blanketed O'ahu, said weather service meteorologist Henry Lau.

"We may be OK," Lau said. "I think it is not going to be as bad as yesterday. There will be some showers, but it won't be continuous."

Most of the rain fell during daylight hours yesterday. The heaviest rainfall was over the Pali, with 2.46 inches falling at the weather service station at St. Stephen's Diocesan Center over a 24-hour period that ended at 5 a.m. today, Lau said. At Aloha Tower, 2.32 inches fell and out on the usually dry Hawai'i Kai Golf Course, 2.31 inches fell.

Meanwhile, the strong west-northwest swell that pumelled north- and west-facing shores for two days slowly began to weaken today. But the weather service continued posting warnings because wave faces — although on a downward trend — were forecast to be large for another day, about 20 to 25 feet on north-facing shores.