UPDATE: Forecasters say Storms Still Possible This Afternoon

***Updated 9:52 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15.***

Although skies were mostly clear this morning for residents of the Big Island and elsewhere in Hawaii, the National Weather Service is maintaining a flash flood watch for the entire state through 6 p.m. today.

Forecasters said unstable atmospheric conditions will continue to bring “unsettled weather” to the state today.

The said the chance of rain and possibly thunderstorms will be greatest from noon to 4 p.m., as the land warms up and sea breezes produce afternoon clouds.

“Weather has calmed down quite a bit over the islands overnight, as land breezes fully developed,” the weather service said in its statewide forecast. “Nevertheless, there are still locally heavier showers scattered around the coastal waters of the islands early this morning.”

Forecasters said that thunderstorms, and even funnel clouds, were most likely over Oahu today.

The upper-level trough that is creating the unsettled weather is expected to weaken over the next couple of days, although the convective or land-heating pattern is expected to continue, producing clouds and showers in the afternoons later in the week.

Posted at 5:57 p.m. Monday:

An unstable air mass over Hawaii prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood watch this afternoon for the entire state through Tuesday.

The flash flood watch means drivers should be careful of ponding on roadways as well as poor visibility and reduced braking power.

The conditions mean that localized heavy rainfall and thunderstorms are possible, with the greatest threat coming during daytime hours as the land heats up, forecasters said.

They said rainfall rates of two inches or more per hour are possible.

A flash-flood advisory was issued at 3:27 p.m. for the area between Waikii on the old Saddle Road in South Kohala and Puuanahulu on Highway 190 in North Kona. Rainfall of nearly an inch fell on parts of the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea over a three-hour period this afternoon.

Heavy rains were being recorded around noontime in central Kauai and leeward Oahu. Palehua on Oahu received more than three inches of rain between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

An infrared image of the Central Pacific taken at 4:30 p.m. Monday. NOAA image.