Hurricane Jimena isn’t knocking on our door but it’s certainly hanging around the neighborhood.
Hurricane Jimena isn’t knocking on our door but it’s certainly hanging around the neighborhood.
After weakening to a tropical storm by this morning, Jimena is forecast to gradually curve around Hawaii to the north as it begins to follow a more westward path by Monday afternoon.
Later next week, the storm is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression and potentially could head more south toward the islands, though chances of that occurring remained quite low as of Friday afternoon.
“It’s less than likely, but it’s certainly not impossible,” said Chris Brenchley, National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu. The storm also could end up heading more north than expected.
“Whenever we have these weak steering currents it becomes less predictable,” he said.
Either way, strong wind shear is expected to continue to weaken Jimena, though the storm still could produce high surf beyond the weekend.
As of Friday evening, a high surf warning was set to lapse at 6 p.m. today.
Brenchley said a high pressure system to the north combined with a weakening trend for the storm will push Jimena more to the west.
“It’s just being directed by more or less the low level flow,” he said.
Brenchley said isle residents should continue to monitor the storm as it remains nearby.
As of Friday evening, Jimena was 615 miles east of Hilo with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.