Flossie is gradually getting stronger, while Erick is quickly growing weaker and nearing the Hawaiian Islands. The pair are the first tropical cyclones expected to enter the Central Pacific this hurricane season.
The Central Pacific Hurricane Center said Hurricane Erick could bring locally heavy rainfall to the Hilo side of Hawaii island as early as Thursday afternoon.
Erick, a powerful Category 4 hurricane as of 5 p.m. Tuesday with 130 mph maximum sustained winds, is expected to weaken from tonight on with increasing wind shear, and will experience rapid weakening Thursday and Friday.
It will enter the Central Pacific on Friday evening, and by Sunday evening will be roughly 300 miles from the eastern slope of the Big Island, said lead forecaster Robert Bohlin of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.
“Precipitation numbers will ramp up as Erick moves in,” he said.
Erick is expected to weaken Thursday into tropical storm strength as it passes south of the Big Island.
As Erick passes the islands, surf will pick up on the eastern shores, then transition to the south shores.
Meanwhile “Flossie is so far from Hawaii that local specific details aren’t going to come in or become clearer until later,” Bohlin said. “Slight deviations in track would mean big changes in the local island impacts.”
Flossie was expected to intensify to 105 mph by Friday from 85 mph today.
There is not a high degree of confidence in whether Flossie will strike the islands as a hurricane, Bohlin said. Flossie’s impact on the islands would likely come on
Monday or Tuesday.
The state and all counties canceled the monthly siren warning system, which was scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Thursday, the first of the month, in order to avoid any confusion should any warning be needed due to severe weather.
August is usually the most active month of the cyclone season in the Central Pacific.
Meteorologists with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center encourage people to have at least two weeks of water and food on hand in preparation for a hurricane.
