Fernanda is only a tropical storm as of right now, but forecasters are predicting that it will reach hurricane status before it weakens and passes by Hawaii south of our island chain.
Fernanda grew to tropical storm strength overnight about 1,500 miles east-southeast of Hawaii as the storm heads to the Central Pacific, National Hurricane Center in Miami. Fernanda – which was a tropical storm Monday, has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph with gusts reaching 70 mph.
Fernanda is currently moving west at about 10 mph, but it is expected to turn to the west-northwest. It is now about 1,425 miles east-southeast of South Point. NHC forecasters said late this morning that the storm “has gone through an interesting evolution on satellite the past several hours.” They explained that the latest imagery of the storm shows none of the shearing that was seen last night.
While Fernanda is expected to reach hurricane status on its way to Hawaii, forecasters say that by the time it starts to approach the Big Island it will have grown pretty weak. However forecasters are being sure to stress that “It’s hurricane season and we need to monitor this and any other system in the Pacific.”
The Central Pacific Hurricane Center on Oahu will take over monitoring the storm once it passes into the Central Pacific.
Leave a Reply