Tropical Storm Douglas strengthening as it marches toward Hawaii

Tropical Storm Douglas continues to strengthen Tuesday as it marches toward the Hawaiian Islands.

Douglas was packing 65 mph winds with higher gusts as it tracked west-southwest at 15 mph some 2,035 miles east of Hilo as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Additional strengthening is forecast and Douglas could reach hurricane strength later Tuesday or Wednesday.

Forecasters don’t expect that the tropical cyclone will remain at hurricane strength for long, noting that it should reach peak intensity Thursday before starting to weaken as it reaches cooler waters.

By Sunday, when Douglas is about 230 miles east of Hilo, forecasters expect to downgrade the system to a tropical storm.

Meanwhile, Tropical Depression 7E, which formed Sunday evening, was downgraded to a remnant low Tuesday.

No storm formation was expected elsewhere in the Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific basins within the coming 48 hours.

Forecasters this season called for near- to below-normal tropical cyclone activity within the Central Pacific with two to six tropical cyclones — a category that includes depressions, storms and hurricanes — expected to pass through the basin between June 1 and Nov. 30.

The basin, which normally sees four to five cyclones, spans an area north of the equator from 140 degrees west longitude to the International Date Line. The number of storms has ranged from zero, most recently as 1979, to as many as 16 in 2015.