Hurricane Lowell hammered parts of Hawaii with strong winds, flooding rain, surge and huge waves as yet another hurricane to pass near but make landfall on the state.

Genesis

On Aug. 23 at 11 P.M. PDT, the National Hurricane Center first highlighted what would eventually become Lowell. "A broad area of low pressure is forecast to form well to the east-southeast of the Hawaiian Islands during the middle part of the week. Some slow development of this system is possible later this week while it moves northeastward or northward across the western portion of the East Pacific," the NHC warned.

The area of low pressure slowly got its act together and it eventually became Tropical Storm Lowell on Aug. 27 at 11 A.M. HST.

The storm meandered for a couple of days and eventually began to head west, slowly strengthening as it did so. It became Hurricane Lowell on Sept. 1 at 5 A.M. HST.

Rapid Intensification

The storm then underwent rapid intensification as it moved into very favorable atmospheric conditions.

From early Sept. 1 to Sept. 2, Lowell rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to only the second Category 5 hurricane of the 2026 Pacific season. The storm went from winds of 90 mph on Sept. 1 at 11 A.M. HST to 160 mph just 24 hours later.

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(MORE: What hurricane terms mean)

The sudden turn

At first, the only impacts for Hawaii from Lowell were dangerous swells and high waves. But, forecasters noticed something that was concerning for Hawaii impacts.

The ridge of high pressure seated above Hawaii, generally responsible for steering named storms from east to west south of Hawaii was about to break down. An area of low pressure forming west of this high was going to drift east and break down part of this ridge. When that happened, the low's counter-clockwise motion began to influence Lowell and the storm began to be forced to the north. Models were generally in agreement that no landfall was expected, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be impacts.

Lowell experienced the wobbles that most storms do and ended up having a slightly further east track, which meant more impacts were expected for Hawaii. Its closest pass to western Hawaii was the night of Sept. 7 through early Sept. 8, with conditions deteriorating the hours before.

Impacts

Peak gusts of 80 mph or stronger have been measured in several locations on Kauai on Sept. 7, including Waimea (85 mph) and Lihue (84 mph). An 80 mph gust was clocked near Kula on Maui's interior, and gusts to 62 mph were reported in higher terrain of western Oahu.

These winds knocked out power to 90% of customers on Kauai.

High surf and coastal flooding affected some roads, prompting closures including a stretch of the Farrington Highway in western Oahu on Sept 7.

By early Sept 8, almost 18 inches of rain fell over the mountains of Kauai, with generally 2 to 5-inch totals over lower elevations. Up to 8 inches of rain fell over Oahu's higher terrain well north of Honolulu, while up to 9 inches of rain were recorded over Maui's mountains.

Lowell even prompted Hawaii's first known tornado watch for Kauai on Sept 7 through early Sept 8.

(NEWS: The latest storm impacts from Lowell in Hawaii)

The third storm to impact Hawaii

Lowell is the third storm to affect parts of Hawaii this El Niño-fueled Pacific hurricane season, following Lala, then Moke, both of which brushed parts of the islands in about a week's time in August. In late July, Fausto passed north of the islands, but fizzled.

(MORE: The science behind the Pacific's three hurricanes)

(MORE: Hawaii hurricane history)

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.