Jimena weakens to tropical depression

Jimena weakened to a tropical depression as it passed north of the Big Island late Tuesday into Wednesday.

Jimena had maximum sustained winds around 35 mph and was moving toward the west-southwest at 9 mph as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to forecasters with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. Located about 355 miles north of Kailua-Kona, Jimena is forecast to continue weakening as it encounters strong wind shear north of the Hawaiian Islands.

By Thursday, the former Category 4 hurricane is expected to be downgraded to a post-tropical remnant low. At that time, current forecast models have the storm situated a couple hundred miles northwest of Kauai.

Elsewhere in the Central Pacific, which is where Hawaii is located, no tropical cyclones are forecast through Friday morning, forecasters said.

Meanwhile in the Eastern Pacific, Linda weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. Heading toward the northwest at 10 mph, the storm was located 270 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Punta Eugenia, Mexico, as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, National Hurricane Center forecasters based in Miami said.

Continued weakening is expected and Linda should be downgraded to a tropical storm Wednesday and to a post-tropical remnant low by Friday, according to forecasters.

Forecasters are also monitoring an area of low pressure that is expected to develop this week several hundred miles south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec later this week. The disturbance has about a 50 percent chance of forming into a tropical depression within five days.

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