Forecasters say system could reach Big Island’s southern coast Saturday
Tropical Storm Hernan formed Thursday in the open Pacific Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said, roughly 1,460 miles west of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and tracking west. Maximum sustained winds were around 40 mph, and the storm posed no land threat.
A second system in the eastern Pacific had a more immediate U.S. destination. Potential Tropical Cyclone One-C was centered about 775 miles east-southeast of Hawaii on Thursday, the Miami-based center said, carrying winds of about 40 mph but lacking the organization required for a tropical storm classification.
Forecasters said One-C was on track to bring heavy rain, high winds and dangerous surf to the Hawaiian Islands starting late Friday. The center said the system could make landfall on the southern part of the Big Island as a tropical storm on Saturday.
Neither storm had winds exceeding 40 mph as of Thursday’s advisory. Hernan’s westward path kept it over open water with no landfall expected, while the Hawaii-bound system remained the more immediate concern for residents and visitors across the island chain.