Wind-driven fires break out across Hawaii as Category 4 Hurricane Dora spins across Central Pacific
The latest update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) shows Dora has maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and is moving to the west at 22 mph.
Hurricane Dora continues to churn in the Pacific Ocean
Dora remains as a Category 4 hurricane, as it spins south of Hawaii on Tuesday, August 8, 2023.
While powerful Hurricane Dora's strength has fluctuated over the past few days, it’s expected to weaken as it spins across the central Pacific.
The latest update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center showed the Category 4 hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, and was moving west at 23 mph.
That motion is expected to continue for the next several days, and the NHC said Dora will begin to slow and gradually weaken over the next two days.
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Even though the storm is spinning well off to the south of Hawaii, a High Wind Warning and Wind Advisory have been issued across the island chain.
The National Weather Service office in Honolulu said winds between 30 and 45 mph are expected, with gusts reaching as high as 65 mph across portions of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and the Big Island.
The winds were blamed for driving brush fires across several of the Hawaiian Islands.
The small but mighty hurricane is the strongest cyclone of the season so far.
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Dora could cross entire Pacific Ocean – again?
Due to a ridge of high pressure, forecast models show a continued west or west-southwest movement for the foreseeable future. Aside from marine interests, forecasters said the hurricane poses no threat to any landmasses over at least the next week.
In fact, Dora might survive an entire trek across the vast Pacific Ocean and enter the western Pacific Ocean basin several days from now.
It would become the second Dora-named storm to accomplish the feat – an occasion that has only been done less than a dozen times in modern hurricane history. Hurricane Dora in 1999 also made the trek from the eastern Pacific Ocean all the way into the western part of the basin.