I woke up this morning to find an email from John, the head of the North Kohala CERT (Community Emergency Response Team); he was alerting CERT members of the incoming tropical cyclones. The 1st one to reach us will be Tropical Depression 1-C some time late Saturday night or early Sunday morning; it is currently predicted to pass southerly of Hawaiʻi Island. Even though it has not reached hurricane force winds, the winds are at 35 mph and are predicted to bring 4 to 8 inches of precipitation which may cause a need for CERT members to assist; Hawai'i Island MRC are also on standby. Currently 1-C is about 980 miles east-southeast of Hilo & moving westerly at about 14 mph. It is expected to strengthen over the course of the day and become a tropical storm by tonight. As it gets closer the cone of uncertainty seen below will become more refined & determining whether it will make landfall will be easier to predict. One of my tasks today will be to walk around the yard securing things that may become projectiles in high winds.
Then the middle of next week meteorologists are forecasting that Hurricane Gilma will reach the islands; it is currently a Category 3 hurricane. Gilma is currently a little over 2000 miles east of Hilo & moving west-northwest at about 7 mph; it is predicted to enter the Central Pacific area late Monday night or early Tuesday morning. Usually a storm will reach the islands in about 3 days once it passes into the Central Pacific area. It is expected to increase in strength slightly before starting to diminish over the weekend. Currently hurricane-force winds (>74 mph) extend out about 35 miles with tropical storm force winds (39 to 73 mph) extending out about 130 miles.
And right behind Gilma is another as yet unnamed system that is being monitored. This low pressure area is expected to enter an area where environmental conditions will increase the likelihood that it will become more organized & develop in to a tropical depression as it moves westward. Meteorologists give it an 80% chance of developing in to a cyclone in 7 days. Stay tuned!
This type of storm activity seems to be increasing. It is one of the reasons why I am having all the old windows replaced with impact-resistant windows. The other reason is that they are old & many are beginning to have fracture lines. I decided to make the change now as contractor Chris begins to work on renovating the sewing room. Which will also have impact-resistant windows.
In other news, there was a Magnitude 4.7 earthquake at 12:52 am; I didn't feel it. It occurred about 9 miles south of Fern Forest & was about 4 miles deep. The HVO Information Statement issued said that the "earthquake had no apparent impact on either Mauna Loa or Kilauea volcanoes." It went further to say most earthquakes in this area are caused by the movement of Kilauea's south flank sliding to the southeast over the oceanic crust & that today's activity was consistent with what usually happens.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jirko, John, Skip, John, Iris, & Soya!
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