Wet days ahead for islands

Rain is likely through tomorrow, after which high humidity and vog are set to return

Kauai, Oahu and Maui counties remain under a flash flood watch until tomorrow as a cold front moves across the islands.

"It's pretty definite it's going to be a wet couple of days," said Jeff Powell, lead weather forecaster in Honolulu.

"I'd call it 'goopy' weather," Powell said.

But because tradewinds have not returned, humidity is likely to stay high and "the vog may be back," he said.

The relative humidity at the Honolulu Airport last night was 88 percent.

But fears that a former tropical depression southwest of the state could combine with the cold front that's moving through the islands are not coming to pass, Powell said.

"Tropical Depression 4C is done -- all pau," he said of the storm that forecasters had tracked last week to see if it might develop into a hurricane.

Moisture from the former storm could still contribute to locally heavy rain, forecasters said.

"Brief heavy downpours" on the south and west sides of Oahu began about 6:30 p.m. yesterday, Powell said.

Three places on Kauai got more than 2 inches of rain between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. yesterday, the weather service reported.

Kokee got 2.6 inches, Kalaheo received 2.5 inches and Mount Waialeale got 2.3 inches. But Kauai officials reported no road closures or emergencies because of the rain.

Kauai's chance of rain was to decrease to 31 to 37 percent this afternoon. Oahu and Molokai were predicted to have an 80 percent chance of rain this afternoon and Lanai and West Maui a 60 to 70 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms, the weather service said.

The Big Island forecast was for 22 percent chance of rain this afternoon.