TS Linda, weakening, continues to approach islands

Tropical Storm Linda crossed over into the Central Pacific on Thursday.

As of late Thursday afternoon, the center of the former hurricane was about 910 miles east of Hilo, packing maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and moving west at 17 mph.

Tropical storm force winds extended 70 miles from the center of the storm.

“It’s a weakening system, and it’s projected to stay fairly week as it passes near us later this weekend,” said forecaster Derek Wroe at the National Weather Service in Honolulu. “The main thing would be the rainfall associated with it.

“There’s a little bit of track uncertainty as to whether it will possibly pass just north of us, or if it will actually go over the islands. It’s not that much of a stretch to think that it could go right over us in terms of what’s left of that (system). “If that happens, you could expect to see some areas of heavy rainfall. I think, for the Big Island, Sunday would be the most likely time that you would see that.

“We’re still several days away, so it’s not that certain what’s going to happen with the track.”

Wroe said a surf buoy near Hilo is out of service for maintenance, but there could be increased surf this weekend.

“We are seeing a bit of an easterly swell, maybe 5 or 6 feet, and it could get a bit bigger as we get into the weekend. Advisory level is 10 feet and there’s an outside shot it could get that high.”