A kona low pressure system that settled over the state the first weekend of 2026 has moved on, and all the flood advisories issued by the National Weather Service ended at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
“The Big Island is the place that had the most rainfall, actually, because it stayed in a southeasterly wind flow and brought up a ton of rainfall from the North Hilo district down to Ka‘u,” Derek Wroe, a NWS forecaster in Honolulu told the Tribune-Herald.
As Wroe indicated, East Hawaii received the brunt of that rainfall, with Glenwood, in the midst of the upper Puna rainforest, receiving 14.21 inches between 8 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Tuesday.
During the same period, Laupahoehoe received 10.09 inches, Mountain View reported 8.88 inches, Hilo International Airport recorded 6.67 inches, and Pahala, in the heart of Ka‘u coffee country, measured 6.18 inches.
There were no rain gauges in North or South Kona nor coastal North or South Kohala that recorded an inch or more rain this year.
Wroe said the kona low has “moved off to the west, and it’s no longer what it was.”
“All that’s left of it now, several hundred miles west of Kauai, is just a weak trough,” he said. “There’s still a little bit of moisture passing just south of the state, but the rainfall has tapered off.”
The rain caused some flooding and road closures, which kept Hawaii County Civil Defense busy issuing updates over the weekend and into this week.
A landslide closed Laupahoehoe Point Road early Monday morning, according to the county, and Hawaii Belt Road (Highway 11) in Ka‘u, had closures between the 52- and 56-mile markers because of flooding, as did Kala‘iki Road, a former cane haul road, now a scenic route.
In Hilo, there was ponding on Kamehameha Avenue at the corner of Pauahi Street, necessitating the coning off of a portion of the right Keaukaha-bound lane at the stoplight.
All roads reopened on Tuesday morning, according to Talmadge Magno, county Civil Defense administrator.
In addition, the system left snow on the summit of Maunakea, although the Maunakea Access Road remained open to the public Tuesday.
“Please stay away from observatory buildings, domes and other structures, as large ice fragments will be falling from above,” the recorded message on the Maunakea Rangers’ hot line cautioned summit visitors.
Melting was occurring as the summit temperature was 60 degrees Fahrenheit shortly after noon.
According to Magno, there were no reports of damage due to the downpours or flooding.
According to the drought monitor on the National Weather Service, the drought is expected to improve or end over much of the state over the next three months, with probabilities continuing to favor above normal precipitation due to La Nina conditions predicted to persist for the next few months.
“Portions of the Big Island are still in drought,” said Wroe. “This will have some impact on the drought, especially in the southerly portion of the island, Ka‘u. It probably won’t be enough to eliminate the drought, but it’s a start.”
“We were in a dry period back in the summer and the dry season and even going into the wet season,” added Magno. “But this might be signaling that we’re kind of going back to more of a normal (rainfall) pattern.
“We’ll see. We’ll keep close tabs with the National Weather Service to see if we’re going to have consistent rainfall again.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
