Former Hurricane Pali is dissipating near the equator far southwest of Hawaii, the National Weather Service said.

The remnants of Pali were about 1,700 miles southwest of Honolulu at 5 p.m. Thursday, and the weakening is expected to continue over the next day or so.

Pali had sustained winds of 30 mph and was traveling southwest at 3 mph.

Pali’s fate appeared to be sealed as it approached the equator and wind shear began to weaken it.

Forces associated with the rotation of Earth — something known as the Coriolis effect — help tropical cyclones spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Coriolis effect is strongest at the poles and doesn’t exist at the equator.

Unusually warm waters near the equator and strong west winds helped Pali become the earliest hurricane to form in a calendar year in the Central Pacific. It peaked as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph Tuesday, when it was more than 1,400 miles southwest of Honolulu and about 350 miles north of the equator.

A combination of the lack of Coriolis energy close to the equator, wind shear and the weakening west winds caused Pali to weaken rapidly, forecasters said.