Hurricane Lowell wasted no time getting to Category 5! By the 11 am update, Lowell had maximum sustained winds at 160 mph. It is now about 445 miles southerly of Hilo & moving westerly at about 10 mph. Though it is expected lthat the forward motion will slow down over the next few days, the forecast also says the maximum wind speed will remain quite high. The model at 11 am shows Lowell turning towards the north sooner than the 5 am models predicted.
Hurricane Lowell has now become a Category 4 Hurricane on the Safir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale; it is also what is called a major hurricane. Major hurricanes are ones where the maximum sustained wind speed is over 110 mph; at 5 am this morning Lowell was at 155 mph & moving westerly at about 10 mph. It is about 455 miles south-southeasterly of Hilo. What we are watching now is not when Lowell will be passing closest to us, but when will it make that right turn & start heading northerly. The current forecast shows its potential path at about 164W longitude which should keep it far enough away to not cause severe damage to us. But if it should turn northerly earlier, say at the 160W longitude, Niʻihau & Kauaʻi would be in its path. Lowell may become stronger later today & we might have a Category 5 Hurricane. Currently hurricane force winds extend out from the center for about 50 miles, with tropical storm force winds extending about 90 miles.
Hurricane Karina is maintaining its Category 4 status with maximum sustained winds at about 145 mph as it moves west-northwesterly at about 10 mph. It is about 1455 miles easterly of Hilo & about 2 days away from entering the Central Pacific region. While Karina is expected to begin weakening, it will still be a strong hurricane for at least a few more days.
As noted in an earlier post, August is the most active month for hurricanes in the Central Pacific. September is the 3rd most active month with about 20% of hurricanes historically occurring in September. But hurricanes can't read so we will just have to see what happens this month. (FYI July is the 2nd most active month with 25% occurring in July. This year it was fairly quiet.)
Lowell has indeed become a hurricane overnight. It is now about 575 miles southeast of Hilo. Maximum sustained winds are about 80 mph & Lowell is moving west-northwesterly at about 12 mph. Hurricane force winds extend out from the center about 15 miles with tropical storm force winds extending out about 90 miles. The forecast is for Lowell to increase in strength, becoming a major hurricane sometime tomorrow.
Hurricane Karina remains a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 140 mph. It is moving westerly at about 12 mph & is expected to enter the Central Pacific region on Friday.
There are still 3 disturbances that are being watched in regards to how they will affect our weather here. Of these Tropical Storm Lowell is the most closely watched. At 5 am this morning Lowell was about 785 miles southeast of Hilo moving westerly at about 14 mph. Maximum sustained winds were about 65 mph but are expected to increase over the next day or so & Lowell is expected to become a hurricane in the next day & a major hurricane by Wednesday; which is also when it will likely be closest to us.
The disturbance to the southwest has been losing intensity & has now been decreased to a 20% chance of becoming a depression within the next 7 days. It is becoming even less likely to cause us any problems; which is good, then we can focus on Lowell!
Category 4 Hurricane Karina is steadily making its way westerly at about 9 mph. Karina's maximum sustained winds this morning at 5 were 140 mph; they are expected to gradually weaken over the next few days. At its current rate, Karina will enter the Central Pacific region early Friday morning.
Tropical Storm Lowell crossed in to the Central Pacific region very early this morning. The 5 am public advisory & warning cone showed Lowell just coming in to the region; it was about 1070 miles east-southeast of Hilo. At that time, Lowell had maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph & was moving westerly at about 15 mph. Lowell is expected to strengthen over the next couple of days & become a hurricane before it makes its closest approach early Thursday morning. But we just need to wait & see exactly what will happen; more on that later.
The disturbance to the south-southwest of us is given a 30% chance of developing into a more organized depression over the next 7 days. Since its motion continues westerly it will likely not be a problem for us.
Karina is currently a Category 1 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. It is expected to be entering the Central Pacific region on Friday. Currently, Karina has maximum sustained winds of about 80 mph & is moving west-northwesterly at about 9 mph. If Karina's westerly motion speeds up or Lowell's slows down or both, it could impact Lowell's strength. If Karina gets close enough it could take some of the energy from Lowell making it a weaker storm system. We will just have to wait & see.
I have a monthly subscription for a dehydrated beef dog food for Moʻo from Badlands Ranch. I've had it for about 2 years now. I give her about a tablespoon with each meal to add nutrients her dried kibble might be missing. On Sunday I started getting emails saying they were unable to process my credit card; I got 3 emails that day. And another the next day, plus another on Wednesday. I did not contact them as they had asked.
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| 08/23/26 @ 2:15 am. Why are you wanting me to respond when I am asleep? |
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| 08/23/26 @ 4:13 am. I am not ignoring you, I am still asleep! |
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| 08/23/26 @ 8:12 am. I am now ignoring you. |
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| 08/24/26 @ 2:20 am. Asleep, but will ignore you when I wake up. |
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| 08/26/26 @ 2:24 am. Still asleep, still going to ignore you when I wake up! |
This same thing happened last year at about the same time; I wonder if it has something to do with the expiration month which is July. Last year the customer service rep was great, she checked a bunch of things & everything was correct; I got my order even though I did get more emails saying it was not able to process my card. It happened the next month & the next! I contacted Badlands Ranch each time. Finally the customer service rep said, they were not sure why it kept sending me emails saying something was wrong when nothing was, so just ignore the emails. And then the emails stopped coming; I thought they had fixed the problem. Not. When it started happening this time, I ignored the emails because the card expiration year is 2030 & everything they had in their system was correct; it should be working. I got this email today. (And yes, my dog is spoiled.)
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| Customer service rep was right; just ignore the other emails! |
Neighbor Malia might be having some roof problems from Hurricane Lālā. There were 2 guys up on her roof today. They were there for an hour or so poking around & talking about things. I did not see them do any repairs, they were probably checking to figure out what the problem was & how to fix it.
The Motek Bakery email about tomorrow's breakfast special says its going to be shakshuka! My favorite! There was a very nice photo.
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| (Photo by Motek) |
I am watching Episode 2 of Yuezhou Unusual News Record on Lingopie. It is an intermediate level video. What I like about Lingopie is that the video has the English subtitles but also has the Hanzi & Pinyin directly above the English. Scroll the cursor over the Hanzi which is then highlighted in orange & the specific English words it translates to pops up along with options to hear it said again (headset), to speak the word yourself (mic), or have a more detailed explanation for the word or phrase (light bulb). If you click on the plus sign (+) the word or phrase is added to your spaced repetition list of words to practice.
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| When you click on light bulb, box on right appears. |
I learned a bunch of new words on Duolingo today. My 1st session was just before I went to sleep, a little after midnight. I learned about using suggestion particles in regards to transportation. My 2nd session was when I woke up around 6 am; the theme seemed to be watching TV! How appropriate!
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| Start of 2nd lesson of the day. |
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| FYI I do not eat popcorn when I watch TV. |
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| But sometimes I do eat other snacks. |
I serendipitously started watching 2 Korean TV series that turn out to have somewhat parallel but opposite themes. How can they be parallel & opposite at the same time? Well maybe those are not quite the right words to describe them, but I'll let you judge for yourself. SPOILER ALERT - Both involve time slips during an eclipse but in Bon Appétit, Your Majesty a modern Michelin level Korean chef is transported to Joseon era Korea & in My Royal Nemesis a Joseon era royal concubine is transported to modern day Korea. Both women are strong-willed & self-assured in their original lives & bring that with them & initially act that way but soon figure out they need to suppress that in order to navigate & survive their new lives. Both women also interact with the tyrannical male head (of the country in Bon Appétit & of a very large business conglomerate in Royal Nemesis) & assist the male tyrants in retaining their power through the use of their strengths. And obviously there is romance involved in both; which changes the males in to less-than-tyrannical beings. So I think the themes of these series are parallel but opposite. What do you think? (And yes, I am watching them at the same time, alternating episodes between the 2. Another way to exercise my brain.)
Tropical Storm Lowell is expected to enter the Central Pacific region some time late tonight or early tomorrow morning; it is currently about 1210 miles east-southeasterly of Hilo. It is also expected to increase in wind speed & become a hurricane; at 5 pm today it had maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph & is moving west-northwesterly at about 9 mph. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center area is keeping a close watch since it is unknown whether or how Hurricane Karina will affect it.
The window for Episode 55 of the eruption of Kīlauea has not yet been determined. Scientists are collecting more data to provide a more accurate prediction of when the next eruption will occur.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Diana!
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| Emily's riding mower slid on wet lawn under puakenikeni, hit branch, slid more & dislodged Front Yard security cam; it still works. |
