VIDEO: Blizzard Warning Issued for Hawaii; 12 Inches of Snow Expected

Officials issued a blizzard warning for Hawaii, forecasting that at least 12 inches of snow will fall over the weekend.

“The warning is in effect for the Big Island summits from 6 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Sunday local time,” ABC News reported Friday.

Meanwhile, wind gusts reaching more than 100 miles per hour were also expected, the alert from the National Weather Service Honolulu said.

Although a blizzard warning for Hawaii might be a surprise, snow is not an uncommon occurrence, the ABC report said, adding, “The summits of the Big Island’s Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes reach nearly 14,000 feet in elevation.”

In addition, a flood watch was also issued for the Hawaiian islands until Monday afternoon because of a prolonged period of heavy rainfall expected over the weekend.

Video footage showed the winter weather conditions:

The weather in Hawaii is because of the “kona low,” which is a seasonal cyclone that brings moisture from the south, Weather Channel meteorologist Are Sarsalari explained.

“The coverage of the precipitation is going to get a little more intense into the weekend,” Sarsalari noted on Friday. “This is going to be a lot of rain, so be prepared for some flooding issues.”

In regard to the blizzard warning, it was more common than most people might think, Cyrus Johnasen, who is the director of communications in Hawaii County, told Fox Weather.

“The largest mountain on our island is about 13,600 feet or so, and the second is a little bit under that, a couple hundred feet below. So, really the blizzards and the storms and all this type of weather patterns, they happen all the time up there,” Johnasen explained.

“And a lot of us down wind, or down the mountain don’t really feel anything,” he said.

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