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NASA / NOAA
NOAA’s GOES-West satellite captured this infrared image of Tropical Storm Fernanda.
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Hurricane Fernanda in the Eastern Pacific continued strengthening Friday, reaching Category 4 intensity.
At 11 a.m. Hawaii time, Fernanda had maximum sustained winds around 130 mph and was about 2,433 miles southeast of Hilo, moving west at 12 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended just 30 miles from the storm’s center.
The forecast called for Fernanda to continue moving westward to west-northwestward toward the Central Pacific and to keep strengthening for the next day or so. A Category 4 hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 130 to 156 mph.
However, Fernanda should start weakening early next week as it takes a northwesterly turn over cooler waters. On Wednesday, Fernanda is expected to be a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of around 80 mph and a few hundred miles west of the Central Pacific.
It is still too far from Hawaii to know whether it will have a direct impact on the state’s weather later in the month.
Forecasters expect cooler waters and wind shear to weaken the storm as it moves northwest as it approaches the Central Pacific around midweek.
“This is all subject to change,” National Weather Service in Honolulu forecaster Henry Lau said.