Forecasters: Hawaii likely to see a wetter-than-normal winter and spring

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Seven months after heavy rains drenched parts of the state, causing significant flooding, forecasters say Hawaii should prepare for another very wet rainy season.

The National Weather Service the winter in Hawaii through April will see above average rainfall.

That’s because a phenomenon known as La Niña has returned.

While NWS officials can’t predict just yet if upcoming rain events will be as intense as what we saw in March, they know where activity will be centered.

“If you get a stronger La Niña event, moderate to strong, and you have higher frequency of trade winds, then you’re still gonna get heavy rain events, but it’s gonna tend to be more on the east facing windward slopes,” said NWS senior hydrologist Kevin Kodama.

“So you can have a significant heavy rain event going on and really not much going on in the leeward areas.”

Kodama reminds the community to always have a safety plan in place, especially if you live in flood-prone areas.

Regions that could use the rain such as leeward areas of Maui County and the Big Island are projected to remain fairly dry.

The recent dry season was the sixth driest in the last 30 years.

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