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Genevieve likely to weaken near Hawaii

Craig Gima
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COURTESY NOAA/NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
Tropical Storm Genevieve, to the far right in this composite satellite image, formed in the eastern Pacific Friday.

A tropical storm packing sustained winds of 45 mph with higher gusts is likely to weaken as it enters the Central Pacific this weekend.

Forecasters say it’s too early to say exactly when and how the remnants of Tropical Storm Genevieve will affect our weather, but it may bring muggy weather and some rain around the middle of next week.

Another patch of moisture south of the Big Island is expected to bring muggy weather and showers this weekend, starting with the Big Island late Friday night.

The humidity from the system “is not quite as bad as we saw last weekend, but it will be more humid, especially Sunday, maybe into Monday,” said John Bravender, a meteorologist with the Honolulu National Weather Service office.

“Most showers will be focused across windward and mauka areas, but some will spread leeward as well. The increase in moisture and rise in inversion height could lead to brief heavier showers,” forecasters said.

The forecast for Honolulu and southern shores of Oahu calls for only a 20 percent chance of rain this weekend. But windward and mauka areas can expect a 50 to 70 percent chance of rain into next week.

Another patch of moist tropical weather west of Genevieve has a slight chance of developing into a tropical cyclone, but is expected to pass far south of the islands. Low pressure in the system may increase tradewinds starting Sunday.

Genevive formed in the Eastern Pacific and was about 1,380 miles east southeast of the Big Island at 11 a.m., moving west northwest at about 7 mph.

Forecasters expect Genevieve to move over cooler waters and encounter westerly winds in the upper atmosphere, which will shear the storm apart.

“Genevieve appears to have reached it’s peak intensity,” the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm is likely to become a post-tropical cyclone, similar to the remnants of Tropical Storm Wali, which affected the islands last weekend.

Bravender said the Eastern Pacific has been fairly active.

The National Hurricane Center said two more weather systems behind Genevieve have a 50 to 60 percent chance of developing into tropical cyclones over  the next five days. Both systems are moving west and could bring more rain and humidity near Hawaii towards the end of next week, into the following week.

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