Boris downgraded to tropical depression

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Boris was downgraded to a tropical depression on Friday as it tracked west-northwest toward the Central Pacific.

Forecasters say Boris was packing 35 mph winds as it tracked west-northwest at 7 mph toward Hilo. As of 5 p.m., the depression was located 1,115 miles east-southeast of Hilo.

The tropical cyclone is forecast to continue weakening over the next couple of days and be downgraded to a remnant low by Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm was expected to enter the Central Pacific sometime late Friday or early Saturday at which point Honolulu-based Central Pacific Hurricane Center forecasters will assume responsibility.

No storm formation was expected elsewhere in the Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific basins within the coming 48 hours.

Forecasters this season called for near- to below-normal tropical cyclone activity within the Central Pacific with two to six tropical cyclones — a category that includes depressions, storms and hurricanes — expected to pass through the basin between June 1 and Nov. 30.

The basin, which normally sees four to five cyclones, spans an area north of the equator from 140 degrees west longitude to the International Date Line. The number of storms has ranged from zero, most recently as 1979, to as many as 16 in 2015.