The National Weather Service issued two rare tornado warnings for western Hawaii on Tuesday morning.
These are the first tornado warnings for the state Aloha State since 2008.
The storms resulted in no reports of damage, but the threat for stormy weather and flash flooding will continue across the Hawaiian Islands for the next couple of days.
The first tornado warning went up for the island of Niihau just before 1:30 AM Tuesday local time.
Tornado Warning including Kalaheo HI, Hanapepe HI, Ele'ele HI until 6:15 AM HST pic.twitter.com/oT98Q01jiG
— NWSHonolulu (@NWSHonolulu) March 17, 2020
It was followed by a second for Kauai around 6:00 AM local time.
Here's something you don't see everyday, or in this case, more than 11 years.
— Greg Diamond (@gdimeweather) March 17, 2020
The tornado warning just issued by @NWSHonolulu is the first to come out of their office since December 15, 2008 pic.twitter.com/WfXD5kcTgh
The most serious of the two thunderstorms affected southern Kauai. The National Weather Service in Honolulu issued a severe thunderstorm warning for southwestern Kauai before the storm came ashore, warning residents that damaging wind gusts up to 60 MPH were possible.
Impressive Air Mass RGB imagery of a low pressure system swirling near #Hawaii. @NWSHonolulu has issued severe #thunderstorm, #FlashFlood, and #Tornado warnings. #HIwx
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) March 17, 2020
Learn more about Air Mass RGB: https://t.co/LJU6dTrVyJ https://t.co/0fWQz3EC58
Kona Low
Kona storms are a type of cold core, extratropical cyclone in the Hawaiian Islands.
They usually form in the winter from winds coming from the westerly “kona” (normally leeward) direction.
Hawaii typically experiences two to three annually, which can affect the state for a week or more.
Since 2005, only four tornado warnings have been issued by the Honolulu’s National Weather Service… Two yesterday, one in 2008 and another one in 2006. Extreme weather events are very rare in Hawaii. More severe weather news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [TWP, Forbes]
