On Friday, tropical storm Jimena, still over 1000 miles east of the Big Island, and was upgraded to a hurricane with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. During the day Friday, the storm strengthened to the point where it
On Friday, tropical storm Jimena, still over 1000 miles east of the Big Island, and was upgraded to a hurricane with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. During the day Friday, the storm strengthened to the point where it contains sustained winds at 100 m.p.h.
People should be “watching very closely for the next few days,” said Jim Weyman, Director of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.
Although all the present forecast models have the storm passing within eighty and ninety miles south of the Big Island, “there could be some errors in the models,” Weyman said. As a result, he said, “people should stay tuned to radio and television, and to take action if they need to.”
The Kaua‘i Civil Defense office said no hurricane watch nor hurricane warning have been issued for Kaua‘i.
According to the National Weather Service forecast, Jimena will likely pass south of the Big Island on Monday, and the only effect to Kaua’i would be a short-period east swell arriving at the end of the weekend and continuing into next week.
However, since hurricane tracks are notoriously hard to forecast, stay tuned to local media for updates on the path of the hurricane.
The Garden Island will continue to update readers on the location of Hurricane Jimena.
Links to hurricane preparation materials, and a list of hurricane shelters, is available at www.kauaiworld.com/hurricane.
Internet weather links include the NOAA at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/, where the map to the left was found, and the Pacific Disaster Center at www.pdc.org/iweb/, where information on disasters including hurricanes, tsunamis and floods is available, and localized for the Hawaiian Islands.