Forecasters are keeping tabs on a pair of tropical cyclones located more than 1,000 miles east of the Big Island.
The nearest system, Tropical Depression 9E, was 1,370 miles east-southeast of Hilo Wednesday afternoon. Packing 35 mph winds, the cyclone was tracking north-northwest at 7 mph.
The depression was forecast to become a tropical storm Wednesday or Thursday before beginning to weaken as it encounters cooler ocean waters and increased wind shear, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which will monitor the storm until it crosses into the Central Pacific at which point Honolulu-based Central Pacific Hurricane Center forecasters will take over.
Farther east in the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Hilda continued to march toward the Hawaiian Islands packing 40 mph winds. As of Wednesday evening, the storm was located more than 1,800 miles east of Hilo.
Weakening is forecast in the coming days and the system will likely be downgraded to a tropical depression Wednesday night and to a remnant low on Thursday, forecasters said.
The National Weather Service’s Central Pacific Hurricane Warning Center predicted a below-average hurricane season this year.
Two to five tropical cyclones — a category that includes depressions, storms and hurricanes — were expected to pass through the basin this year. The 2021 season started June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, though tropical cyclones have formed outside that period.