But the storm no longer poses the threat of heavy rains and high winds to Hawaii, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center said.
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Hurricane Lester, in the 5:00 a.m. fix, is 435 miles east of Hilo and moving WNW at 14 mph.
Hurricane Lester is churning toward the state as a Category 2 storm, and could bring damaging surf and heavy rains to parts of the islands starting late Friday.
The forecast track for Lester narrowed and the storm is taking a sharper turn north than in previous forecasts.
A Hurricane Watch was discontinued for all islands early Saturday.
Forecaster Birchard from NOAA’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) said, “Lester remains a strong and well-organized hurricane, with a solid ring of cold cloud tops surrounding the eye”.
The National Weather Service has issued a high surf warning for east-facing shores of the Hawaiian Islands.
Forecasters say the storm is expected to gradually weaken over the next couple of days.
Still, forecasters say there’s still a possibility that Lester could drift west, bringing bigger impacts to the islands. Oahu could see similar weather Saturday.
“T$3 the probability that Maui County will experience tropical storm-force winds is significantly higher with Hurricane Lester than it was with Madeline”, said Maui County Emergency Management Office Anna Foust in a county news release.
Honolulu couple Bailey Matsuda and Anne Smoke headed to the east shore and stood at Halona Blowhole Lookout to watch waves pounding the rocks.
Maui and Molokai will see even bigger surf at 20-35 feet tonight and Saturday.
“It’s going to be life-threatening surf”, Morrison said. Large breaking waves and strong currents may impact harbor entrances and channels causing challenging marine navigation.
“Hurricane Lester is forecast to approach the state from the east today, and then pass to the northeast of all the main islands this weekend”, the weather service said. However, the threat of heavy rain and flooding would be greater if Lester moves farther to the west than now forecast and lesser if Lester moves farther east and away from the islands. Heavy rains and winds from Lester are possible on Saturday. Improving conditions are expected Sunday with weather getting back to typical trade wind weather on Monday.
The cooling tradewinds should return early next week. It is expected to weaken further as it moves across waters in the path of Tropical Storm Madeline, which is slowly falling apart as it moves into the colder waters of the Pacific Ocean.
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Stephen Small, who was visiting the Big Island from Los Angeles, said hurricane threats didn’t keep him from traveling because if disaster had struck he would’ve been glad to help out.
