Category 4 Hurricane Heads Toward Hawaii

Hurricane Flossie About 1,000 Miles From The Islands; Officials Warn Residents

(AP)  Hurricane Flossie strengthened to a Category 4 storm Saturday as it spun more than 1,000 miles south of Hawaii.

At 5 a.m. HST, Flossie had intensified with maximum sustained winds near 132 mph, and was about 1,100 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. Flossie was upgraded to Category 3 from a Category 1 overnight.

The storm was expected to weaken later in the day as it passed over cooler waters. It was traveling west at about 12 mph.

Jeff Powell, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said Flossie hadn't changed its course and was expected to pass the Hawaiian Islands early Wednesday with rough surf. A "ramp up" of surf on the Big Island was expected late Monday.

The island's southeastern shores could see waves of 8 to 12 feet, forecasters said, with the surf rising during the day Monday and peaking Tuesday. The island's South Point is the southernmost area of the United States.

State civil defense officials urged residents to be prepared because of the unpredictable nature of hurricanes. A one or two degree direction change, they say, could make a big difference.

"If this thing fizzles out, so what? Everybody should still be prepared," said Dave Curtis, spokesman for the state Civil Defense Agency.

Flossie formed as a tropical storm Wednesday about halfway between Mexico's southern Pacific coast and Hawaii. Its winds surpassed 74 mph, making it a hurricane, on Friday.

The last time a hurricane hit Hawaii was in 1992, when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people and causing $2.5 billion in damage.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. In May, forecasters predicted that Hawaii and the rest of the central Pacific face a slightly below-average hurricane season, with just two or three tropical cyclones expected because of lower sea surface temperatures.

The islands get an average of 4.5 tropical cyclones a year and one hurricane about every 15 years. Last year, the central Pacific had five tropical cyclones after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted two to three.

On July 21, a tropical depression moved past the Big Island, bringing a few inches of rain to the parched island but no major problems. Cosme, the year's first Pacific tropical cyclone, reached hurricane status for a day before it weakened.

[brianbwb-2009]

Seriously, though it would be of great help, maybe even save lives, to see an accurate positioning at the time of filing, c'mon guys, I know you have deadlines, but this is a potential natural disaster we're talking about, it deserves more than file photos from some unrelated archive.

Would your TV weather division have photos you could use? Think about coordinating your assets fellas...

[brianbwb-2009]

OK, it has been upgraded from cat 3 to cat 4, but still on the wrong side of the planet, looks like Hawaii might be pretty safe by those maps...

[undermyboot]

Posted by One_American at 09:40 PM : Aug 11, 2007
----
Monkey. Told by the Alpha (Chimp-in-chief) that it is an American, but this monkey is just another kind of chimp. Keep throwing your own monkey sh*t from your Fake News papered cage, monkey. ROFLMAO

[one_american]

"And today in the news...further proof that Global Warming really really real - the Hawaiian Islands narrowly missed (by 1000 miles) being slammed by a major hurricane (category 4)...better stock up now on Al Gore's carbon credits today! Remember - if you don't see Al today, the Democrats can't win in 2008!"

- Katie Couric

[galaxiana]

Wow, in typical CBS non-accurate, we-really-don't-give-a-*** fashion, they show the wrong map for yet another story, even though they have updated the text from earlier versions (earlier today it was a cat 3 storm that was going to "hit" Hawaii.)

CBS is really losing it in the news game (well, for that matter, they're losing it in nearly all areas of televsion comptetitveness) and this story here is an excellent example.

Do they even bother to READ these comments? Do they even bother to PROOFREAD their articles? Obviously not!

[usayesterday]

Okay, now I've seen it all on this site!

I've always known this 'comments' section has the krappiest reload/refresh times. Sometimes the 'Publish' button doesn't work correctly, causing multiple posts of the same statement. And on, and on.

But now to see a satellite photo of a hurricane in the Atlantic off the coast of South East U.S., it's beyond pathetic!

Kudos to 'brianbwb' for catching that error first.

[mills121]

Wishing for people to be killed by this hurricane, as posted by "snidegrass" is something that should not be printed by this web site. It's just wrong!

[parakeet57]

My prayers for the people in Hawaii--a category 4 is a strong one. My mother lived in Honolulu for several years. They were frequently under tsunami and hurricane watches. Hope all turns out for the residents there.

[nalu22]

Mahalos ma braddah Prayz al we needz cuz da mos powaful wepon on dis earth.
Aloha-

[tnt1954]

this is samurai saturday. i ching. confucius
say. buddha's feast. fortune cookie.
tae kwon do. kung fu. karate. thai boxing.
lao tze. the tao. yin and yang. floosie
doesn't floss her teeth. dentist revenge.

[jimkun]

Anyone who only looks at one hurricane season to prove/disprove global warming is the idiot. One has to look at all the facts, including the accelerated melting of the polar ice caps.

[hawksprings]

The article says a hurricane hits Hawaii on average every 15 years, and the last one was in 1992... which was 15 years ago.

Sounds like things are pretty normal around here.

...

[tcoleman12]

These guys are idiots...With all the BS wrapped around this global warming hype they have been so amped up about this fantastic hurricane season that we should have.

Two months in and NOTHING!!! Now finally a CAT 3 that is going to draw some surfers to Hawaii. Misleading headlines, inventing stories...

[mnelsonix]

Cubans Unprepared LOL

[rushlimpdrug]

Revised headline:
"Category 3 Storm To Hit Hawaii - Cubans Unprepared"
With accurate article to be posted by CBS's brianbwb at later date.

[mnelsonix]

Headline:
Category 3 Storm To Hit Hawaii

1st paragraph:
""...forecasters did not expect it to hit the state with anything more than rough surf""

Lame A$$ journalists.
And brianbwb is correct, it's the wrong ocean!

[likuidkewl]

Here is a link to NOAA, at least they ave the right images, unlike CBS...
http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/tc_graphics/latest_satellite.php?stormid=EP092007

[my2centss]

I bet more people evacuated Hawaii, an island, than New Orleans, a land connected city. Federal aid will get there quicker also.

[rushlimpdrug]

brianbwb - I'm still laughing.
Maybe Cuba moved and didn't tell anyone?
CBs still has kids working this site.

[brianbwb-2009]

The photo is off by about one third of the planet, the storms shown are headed toward Cuba, they will have to move pretty fast to make it to Hawaii by the predicted time, LOL.

Can I have a job as the guy who posts the photos? I'm pretty sure I can be a little more accurate...