The Anatomy of a Series of Cloud Bursts that Eclipsed the U.S. Rainfall Record

Abstract

A series of extreme cloudbursts occurred on 14 April 2018 over the northern slopes of the island of Kaua‘i, Hawaii. The storm inundated some areas with 1262 mm (∼50 in.) of rainfall in a 24-h period, eclipsing the previous 24-h U.S. rainfall record of 1100 mm (42 in.) set in Texas in 1979. Three periods of intense rainfall are diagnosed through detailed analysis of National Weather Service operational and special datasets. On the synoptic scale, a slowly southeastward propagating trough aloft over a deep layer of low-level moisture (>40 mm of total precipitable water) produced prolonged instability over Kaua‘i. Enhanced northeast to east low-level flow impacted Kaua‘i’s complex terrain, which includes steep north- and eastward-facing slopes and cirques. The resulting orographic lift initiated deep convection. The wind profile exhibited significant shear in the troposphere and streamwise vorticity within the convective storm inflow. Evidence suggests that large directional shear in the boundary layer, paired with enhanced orographic vertical motion, produced rotating updrafts within the convective storms. Mesoscale rotation is manifest in the radar data during the latter two periods, and reflectivity cores are observed to propagate both to the left and to the right of the mean shear, which is characteristic of supercells. The observations suggest that the terrain configuration in combination with the wind shear separates the area of updrafts from the downdraft section of the storm, resulting in almost continuous heavy rainfall over Waipā Garden.