Gilma forecast to drop rain on Hamakua Coast tonight

Gilma, now a tropical depression, is expected to bring rain to the northern areas of the windward Big Island starting tonight.

“I think most of the rain is going to be on the Hamakua Coast, not so much in the South Hilo to Puna districts, which would be normal,” said Joe Clark, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu. “The wind is going to be kind of northerly. That’s why it’s going to kind of focus the (rainfall) over the mountains and the Hamakua Coast area.”

Asked how much rain residents of the area can expect, Clark replied, “one to three inches, maybe, locally a little bit higher.”

“But we’re not anticipating a flash flood threat, anything like that. It should be a relatively short-lived period from this evening through most of the night,” he added.

Gilma, which is expected to weaken to a remnant low-pressure system soon, has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph as she continues her track to pass just north of the Big Island.

Asked if forecasters expect a bump up in winds, Clark answered, “maybe a little bit, but not really.”

“It’s a tropical depression, so the winds aren’t that strong with it, anyway,” he added. “And the strongest winds are confined to the northern half of the storm. The islands are going to be getting grazed by the southern half, so we’re going to be in the lightest winds associated with the circulation.

“The strongest winds are going to stay offshore.”

The former Tropical Storm Hector, which had been following Gilma’s path toward the islands, dissipated overnight without reaching the Central Pacific Basin.

There are no disturbances on the National Hurricane Center’s map of the Eastern Pacific, and the center is forecasting no further tropical cyclone activity in the next week.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.