“The expected track of Hilda will bring the threat of locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds to the Big Island as early as Thursday, local time”, AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey said.
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Hurricane Hilda was located about 290 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii, and was moving northwest at 7 mph on Tuesday morning.
Tropical storm winds extend outward up to 85 miles from the center. The strongest winds will accompany Hilda’s closest approach to the Big Island from Wednesday night through Thursday night.
Hilda joins a spate of storms that have threatened Hawaii or been spawned in its waters in the last 12 months.
“Don’t follow the exact track”, he said, noting that the uncertainty decreases as the Hilda gets closer. As much as 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of rain will probably fall as the storm passes by and some computer models say there may be isolated pockets getting from 14 to 20 inches, he said.
Rough surf was the main impact Hawaii faced when Guillermo dissipated well north of the islands.
The Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm force winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour are possible within 48 hours.
Hilda is forecast to weaken steadily, but there’s the chance for very heavy rainfall from the storm or its remnants.
“Interests in Hawaii should closely monitor the progress of Hilda”, forecasters said.
The hurricane center said that a reconnaissance flight into the storm was planned for Tuesday morning.
The storm is already bringing high surf to east and southeast shores.
The strong breaking waves, shore break and rip currents could make swimming hard and unsafe, forecasters said.
Firsthand Weather will continue to put out the latest information on Hurricane Hilda as it comes in with our next update expected this evening.
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Wednesday’s forecast will depend on the progress of Hurricane Hilda.
