While the Gulf Coast, Atlantic Seaboard and Eastern Pacific have had their share of serious ocean storms, Hawaii has largely been spared since Hurricane Iniki in 1992, more than two decades ago. I have mostly lived here all my life, but have not yet experienced a hurricane. I was in Utah when Iniki devastated (nearly $2 billion of damages) the island of Kauai. It was, nevertheless, a surprise to me when I learned today that the Big Island of Hawaii has never yet been struck by a hurricane or tropical storm in recorded history. Tropical Storm Flossie (left) has had this island as the prime target since my posting last week.
Maybe those tall volcanoes do this, but Flossie did take a more northerly track, and is now heading straight for Maui, then right over my apartment in Honolulu tonight and on to Kauai tomorrow:
That's Justin Cruz of KHON to the left, and he predicted the state of Flossie over Oahu:
- 60% Tropical Depression (less than 39 MPH)
- 21% Tropical Storm (39-73 MPH)
- 18% Total fizzle
- 1% Hurricane (74 MPH+)
(I had to slightly adjust his numbers, as they added up to 102). Any cyclonic storm wafting over the Hawaiian Islands is very rare:
Hurricane Felicia in 2009 was a Category 4 (145 MPH), but fizzled short of the Big Island, The eye, however, kept moving west and, exactly similar to the incoming Flossie, flew over my home. How I am doing in Honolulu today? Well, when I woke up:
Then by 10AM the sun came out and the skies are now blue. But by 6PM tonight, things will change. How much is difficult to assess at this time because Flossie has pretty much torn in two, with a huge cloud bank south of the eye. If this heavy rain portion goes south and the eye itself keeps moving west at 17-20 MPH, maybe I'll even be able to golf tomorrow.
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