East Pacific has first named storm of year, Hone heading toward Hawaii

The Central Pacific basin has its first named storm of the 2024 hurricane season.

Tropical Depression One-C was upgraded to Tropical Storm Hone at 11 a.m. Thursday. A tropical storm watch was posted for the Big Island at 5 p.m.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the center of Hone was 815 miles east-southeast of Hilo. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 49 mph and was moving west at 16 mph. Tropical storm force winds extended 30 miles from the storm’s center.

“We do expect Hone to strengthen, at least to some degree, as it approaches Hawaii and likely, track just to the south of Hawaii,” AccuWeather meteorologist Isaac Longley said Thursday. “At this point, we’re expecting and forecasting it to be a strong tropical storm, just below Category-1 hurricane status. It’s not completely out of the question that it could be a Category-1 storm as it passes to the south of the islands.

“At this point, we’re expecting it to track closest to the Big Island … late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.”

Longley said the Big Island is expected to sustain the brunt of Hone’s effects.

“It’s going to be a stark contrast between the windward and leeward sides of the island, for the Big Island specifically,” he said. “At this point, it looks like we’ll see impacts from rain and wind, as well as rough surf and dangerous rip currents, as well. But in terms of impacts for the Big Island, we are expecting to see general rainfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches … and we could certainly see amounts get into double digits for the windward side of the Big Island.

“For the leeward side, we are currently forecasting 1 to 2 inches, given that the rain — as it traverses the high terrain there on the Big Island — is going to dry up on the leeward side.”

According to Longley, wind gusts are forecast to be “anywhere from 60 to 80 mph across the southern portion of the Big Island, especially across the higher terrain.”

“That can bring a wildfire threat, given drought conditions — but not quite to the extent of what we saw last year,” he said, referring to Tropical Storm Dora, which passed to the south of the Big Island and Maui in August 2023, producing winds that fanned wildfires that killed more than 100 people on Maui and damaged or destroyed seven structures in West Hawaii.

In the Eastern Pacific, Hurricane Gilma has intensified into a high-end Category-3 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, and moving west-northwest at 6 mph. As of 5 p.m., the center of Gilma was 1,945 miles east of Hilo.

“Gilma’s looking pretty healthy on satellite right now,” said Longley. “It has a very distinct eye, so it’s definitely a strong system. We generally expect this storm to track westward, and eventually northwestward.

“The main steering mechanism for these storms is an area of pronounced high pressure across the North Pacific, and these storms are on the southern edge of this high-pressure system. That is why we are seeing a general westward movement with both of these storms, Gilma and Hone.

“It’s still a little early to determine the exact impacts of Gilma. At the very least, I think, we’re going to be dealing with rough surf and dangerous seas as Gilma passes just to the north of the Hawaiian Islands next week.”

The U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) has set port condition Whiskey for the seaports of Hilo and Kailua-Kona due to the expectation of sustained gale force winds generated by Tropical Storm Hone that may arrive within 72 hours.

During port condition Whiskey, port facilities are currently open to all commercial traffic and all transfer operations may continue while Whiskey remains in effect. At port condition Whiskey:

• All pleasure craft shall seek sheltered waters.

• All ocean-going commercial vessels and ocean-going barges must make plans for departing the port area if they do not have COTP and State of Hawaii Department of Transportation (DOT)- Harbors Division permission to remain.

• Commercial vessels will be required to complete cargo operations and depart the port within 60 hours after port heavy weather condition Whiskey is set.

• Vessels that desire to remain in port must submit a safe mooring plan in writing to the COTP and state Department of Transportation-Harbors Division and receive permission to remain in port.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.