No, the weather isn’t always perfect in Hawaii

KAUAI, Hi. – We contend with thunderstorms and the possibility of tornadoes a few times per year in southwest Virginia, but there are portions of the United States where those types of storms are much rarer.

Before Tuesday, no Hawaii resident had received an alert for a tornado warning since December 2008, a span of 4,110 days. The last confirmed tornado in the Aloha State happened in April 2015, on Oahu and there have only been 15 twisters there since 2000.

The island chain is in the midst of a “Kona storm," a seasonal cyclone that typically forms a couple of times each winter. Among the hazards from these types of storms are heavy rain, flash flooding, high winds and waterspouts.

That storm produced two thunderstorms with rotations strong enough on radar to prompt the National Weather Service office in Honolulu to issue a warning for the island of Niihau at 1:22 a.m. local time Tuesday, then a second warning for Kauai at 5:55 a.m.

Thankfully, no tornadoes were confirmed and there were no reports of damage. Tuesday morning’s active weather resets the days since NWS Honolulu’s last tornado warning to zero. In case you’re wondering, the National Weather Service office in Eureka, CA has gone the longest without a tornado warning at 6,303 days!