A winter storm warning is in effect for an unlikely place: tropical Hawaii.
The National Weather Service has issued a warning for the Big Island’s Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes through Sunday night.
Around 2 feet of snow has already fallen on the volcanoes’ peaks, and another 6 to 12 feet are expected throughout Sunday above 11,000 feet.
Time-lapse footage near Mauna Kea’s summit captured wind gusts and thick snow piling up near the elegantly named Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
The peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa both rise more than 13,000 feet above sea level, and both volcanoes get snow each year.
But three feet of snowfall is still exceptionally high for the Big Island’s volcanoes.
Last week’s snow stems from an upper-level area of low pressure that is bringing deep moisture into the Hawaiian islands and lowering snow levels enough to reach the peaks, the Weather Channel reported. This second round of snowflakes is the result of a separate upper-level system.
Dark pink circles show the winter storm warning for Hawaii’s Big Island as of Sun, Dec. 4, 2016 at 11:14:04 a.m . HST. Green indicates a flash flood watch. The light pink circles indicate small craft advisories.
Image: national weather service weather forecast office
For the rest of Hawaii, flash flood warnings remained in effect for Sunday afternoon.
The National Weather Service said a combination of deep tropical moisture and an unstable airmass might lead to heavy showers and thunderstorms across the island state. Downpours could cause streams to quickly overflow and lead to flash flooding, weather forecasters warned.
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