HONOLULU (AP) — A tropical storm is expected to deliver strong winds and heavy rain to Hawaii this weekend, particularly to the Big Island and Maui, as it passes south of the island chain.
The National Weather Service on Thursday evening issued a tropical storm watch for Hawaii County, which includes all of the Big Island, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Hone.
The August storm has evoked memories of the powerful hurricane south of Hawaii that helped fuel a deadly wildfire that destroyed Maui’s Lahaina town last summer, but the weather service said that Hone was not creating the same conditions.
Separately, to Hone’s east, Hurricane Gilma was moving west across the Pacific, but it was too early to tell whether it would affect the islands.
Hone, which means “sweet and soft” in Hawaiian and is pronounced hoe-NEH, was expected to bring sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts of 50 mph to Maui and the Big Island. Oahu and Kauai were forecast to get slightly weaker winds.
The Big Island’s east coast and southeastern corner were expected to get 4 to 8 inches of rain Saturday night through Sunday night. Maui could get 2 to 4 inches of rain.
These predictions could change depending on the storm’s course. Early Friday, the storm was about 670 miles east-southeast of Hilo and about 880 miles east-southeast of Honolulu. It was moving west at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
The Aug. 8, 2023, Lahaina fire was fueled by powerful winds whipped up by a combination of a hurricane passing some 500 miles to the south and a very strong high pressure system to the north of the islands. The weather service issued a red flag warning at the time, something it does when warm temperatures, very low humidity and strong winds combine to raise fire danger.
Laura Farris, a weather service meteorologist in Honolulu, said some drier air was expected to move in to the western end of the state this weekend, which presents some concerns about fire risk.
“But it’s not even close to what we saw last year,” Farris said.
The pressure system to the north is not as strong now as last year and the tropical system to the south is a storm not a hurricane, said Pao-Shin Chu, a University of Hawaii professor and the state’s climatologist.
“We do see something similar but not as dramatic as the Lahaina case we saw last year,” Chu said.
Hurricane Gilma was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 mph), making it a Category 3 hurricane. It was slowly moving west. The National Hurricane Center said Gilma was expected to slowly weaken this weekend.
The cause of Lahaina blaze, the deadliest in the United States in over a century, hasn’t been determined, but it’s possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds.
To reduce the risk of wildfires, the state’s electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, have since started shutting off power during high winds and dry conditions.
