What is it with the hurricanes starting with F lately? Two years ago, it was Flossie, and right now Felicia is bearing down on Hawai’i.
More seriously, this is the first time since I have lived on (and off) Kaua’i that I’ve seen Kaua’i in the predicted path:
Source: NOAA/National Weather Service
First the good news: Kaua’i is on the edge of the predicted path, which I interpret to mean less of a chance of being hit. However, storm direction is perhaps the hardest to predict. More encouraging, and hopefully more accurate, the hurricane is predicted to weaken into a tropical depression, with winds under 40 mph (60 km/h), as shown on the graphic above.
The bad news: my family is travelling to Kaua’i without me next week. It looks like they’ll arrive before the storm, and I won’t join them until after it passes. So it looks like they’ll have to put up with lots of rain and avoid camping.
I guess the silver lining is that we’ll be on the island to clean up around our house that we have rented out. The last big storm blew some shingles off, so I might have to go up on the roof to glue them back down.
Update: you can follow Felicia’s progress at the NOAA/NWS Central Pacific Hurricane Center.
| Update for posterity: after targetting Oahu, then Maui, and causing much news reporting, Felicia finally weakened before passing through and making lots of rain but no significant wind on Kaua’i. Here’s the last forecast from the Pacific Hurricane Center, on Tuesday, August 11. They stopped tracking the storm at this point. |  Source: NOAA/NWS Central Pacific Hurricane Center |
Andy,
Thursday, Aug. 13.
I’m happy to see that Hurricane Felicia was downgraded to a tropical depression on Aug. 11 with no impact to Hawaii. Current radar shows a large heavy rain event along the entire Kalalau coastline, so I’m sure there are many unhappy campers.
Best wishes for an uneventful September.
Mary
Hi Mary,
Yes, I’m relieved it weakened into a tropical depression and just brought rain. It was a bit scary to see the storm head straight for Hawaii and lucky for everyone it just dissipated before hitting. My wife is on Kauai right now and said it is very rainy.