Tropical Storm Oho strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane early Tuesday, Honolulu-based forecasters with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said.
Tropical Storm Oho strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane early Tuesday, Honolulu-based forecasters with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said.
Located 440 miles east-southeast of Kailua-Kona, Oho was circulating 85 mph winds and tracking northeast at 22 mph as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. The storm is forecast to continue tracking northeast before picking up forward speed through Thursday morning as it moves away from the Big Island and toward the West Coast.
Oho is forecast to continue strengthening during the next day or so before moving over cooler waters and wind shear, which is expected to increase within 24 hours and begin to tear the storm apart. Oho was expected to peak with 85 mph winds later Tuesday. Forecasters expected to declare the storm dissipated by the weekend.
Central Pacific Hurricane Center officials said the final mission by the Hurricane Hunters that was scheduled for Tuesday morning has been canceled because “Oho no longer appears to be a viable threat to the main Hawaiian Islands.”
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 35 miles and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 175 miles from the center of Oho.
A hurricane warning remains posted for offshore Hawaiian waters between 40 and 240 nautical miles out, including the portion of the Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument east of French Frigate Shoals. On Tuesday, mariners traversing southeast waters should expect 39 mph winds and 12-foot seas.
In the Eastern Pacific, disorganized showers and thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave persist about 1,000 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Conditions are expected to become conducive for gradual development of the weather system later this week.
The Central and Eastern Pacific hurricane seasons continue 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.