It’s been a quite hurricane season so far, but things may be changing.
Over in the Pacific, Hurricane Flossie is up to Category 4 and could cause problems for some parts of Hawaii:
HONOLULU — Hurricane Flossie spun about 875 miles east-southeast of Hawaii on Sunday, but forecasters predicted the Category 4 storm would weaken considerably before passing by the islands.
The hurricane was expected to pass by Hawaii late Tuesday or early Wednesday, but by then cooler waters should weaken Flossie considerably to a tropical storm.
At 5 a.m. EDT, Flossie had maximum sustained winds near 135 mph about. The storm was traveling west at about 14 mph.
Flossie may weaken as it moves over cooler ocean waters and travels south of Hawaii, according to the forecast. But it could also keep its strength and veer toward the islands.
The island’s southeastern shores could see waves of 8 to 12 feet, forecasters said, with the surf rising during the day Monday and peaking Tuesday. The island’s South Point is the southernmost area of the United States.
State civil defense officials urged residents to be prepared because of the unpredictable nature of hurricanes. A one or two degree direction change, they say, could make a big difference.
The last time a hurricane hit Hawaii was in 1992, when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people and causing $2.5 billion in damage.
And, according to Brendan Loy, things may be heating up in the Atlantic as well:
A tropical wave off the African coast has the potential to develop into the first serious tropical system of the season. For now, it’s just a disorganized mass of clouds with a moderately low pressure, but the computer models are predicting that it’ll become Tropical Depression 4 as early as Monday. For now, it’s known only as Invest 90L.
Brendan also posts a graphic that seems to suggest that there isn’t anything slow about the hurricane season so far this year, Matt Drudge notwithstanding.
