Though Hurricane Jimena is forecast to track far north of the Hawaiian Islands, the disturbance is generating large swells that could bring high surf to east-facing shores into early next week, forecasters say.
Located 770 miles east of the Big Island, Jimena had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and was moving northwest at 5 mph as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Central Pacific Hurricane Center forecasters said. Gradual weakening is forecast through Thursday evening before the hurricane encounters cooler sea surface temperatures and increasing wind shear that are expected to further deteriorate the storm.
By Monday afternoon, Jimena is expected to be a tropical storm packing 60 mph winds about 740 miles north-northeast of Hilo.
High surf fueled by Hurricane Jimena is forecast to bring more warning-level surf to the Big Island’s east-facing shores into early next week.
Currently, Hurricane Ignacio, located 375 miles north of Kauai and packing 75 mph winds, is generating a large swell bringing 10- to 15-foot waves to the island’s northern, eastern and southern coasts prompting the continued closure of a handful of beaches in East Hawaii. A high surf warning remains posted until 6 p.m. Thursday and forecasters expect the warning to be extended as Jimena moves closer to the islands.
Ignacio, which strengthened back to a tropical storm as it tracked northwest Wednesday, is forecast to see little change in strength through Thursday before starting to weaken.
Meanwhile in the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Depression 14-E continued to circulate 35 mph winds as it moved toward the north about 525 miles southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. The disturbance still has a chance to strengthen and could be upgraded to a tropical storm Thursday. It’s forecast to weaken thereafter and should be dissipated by the start of next week.
Though Tropical Depression 14-E is forecast to fizzle out, a large area of clouds and showers forming several hundred miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico, could see some tropical cyclone development over the weekend. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami gave it a 20 percent chance of forming into a tropical cyclone by early next week.
Elsewhere, no tropical cyclones are expected through Friday afternoon, forecasters said.
The Central North and Eastern Pacific hurricane seasons run through Nov. 30.
Get more hurricane-related content, including preparation tips, evacuation info and daily tropical weather updates, on our hurricane season page, sponsored by Clark Realty, at www.westhawaiitoday.com/hurricane-season-2015.
