The weather over most of the state is "pretty settled right now," said Kevin Kodama, staff hydrologist with the National Weather Service Honolulu Forecast Office.

"But there's still a chance we could see heavy showers later this afternoon. The air mass over the islands is still unstable and showers can pop up in a hurry especially if there is some afternoon heating" of island land masses, Kodama said.

A band of thunderstorms developed to the southwest of Kauai earlier this morning, with one "cell" brushing Kauai's west end near Barking Sands, Kodama said.

"It was moving fast and didn't drop much rain."

The heavy showers that dumped as much as a foot of rain on Central Oahu yesterday moved to the northeast across the island chain and left portions of the drought-stricken Big Island with as much as 1 to 3 inches of badly need rain, Kodama said.

"It was a nice steady rain without a lot of runoff — a good start to possibly ending the drought," Kodama said.

The unstable air and chances of flash flood conditions will continue at least through the weekend, Kodama said.

A flash flood watch will remain in effect across the state through this afternoon.