Hurricane Nolo strengthens, prompting watches for Hawaii's Big Island

Hurricane Nolo has intensified to a Category 1 hurricane and is tracking about 240 miles south of Hawaii's Big Island, moving north at roughly 5 mph. The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for the Big Island, a tropical-storm warning for the same island and a tropical-storm watch for Maui. Winds are already gusting to 30 mph in southern parts of the Big Island, and conditions are expected to worsen on Friday and into the weekend.

Forecasters anticipate Nolo will continue northward on Friday before turning sharply westward on Saturday, strengthening to at least Category 3 by the weekend. Even if the storm’s center remains outside the official cone of uncertainty, the islands could still experience heavy rain, strong winds and high surf.

Rainfall forecasts from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center show potential totals of up to 35 inches on the Big Island’s mountain slopes, 15 inches on Maui and up to 6 inches on other islands. The National Hurricane Center warns that such amounts could trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas still recovering from earlier storms.

The southern Big Island faces the greatest risk of tropical-storm-force winds that could damage trees and cause power outages, with the possibility of hurricane-force gusts depending on the storm’s exact track. Mountainous terrain may amplify wind speeds across the archipelago.

Coastal flooding and dangerous surf are also expected as larger swells arrive, with a storm surge of 1 to 3 feet projected for the Big Island. If Nolo follows the forecast, it could become the strongest hurricane to approach the island in more than six decades, comparable only to Hurricane Dot in 1959.

Nolo marks the fourth tropical system to affect Hawaii this season, following Hurricane Lala, Tropical Storm Moke and Hurricane Lowell, each of which brought rain, wind and flooding to parts of the state.