Well, Hawaii and hurricanes are about as far as you can get from Manitoba weather, but our weather has been fairly quiet lately, so I thought I'd post some information on Flossie and the upcoming hurricane season. Flossie is still a strong F4 hurricane, even though it's approaching cooler ocean waters and more wind shear in the area. This has prompted a hurricane watch for the islands of Hawaii, with the storm expected to pass just south of the big island of Hilo. Should be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of days with this one.This brings us to the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season which should become more active in the next few weeks. NOAA is still predicting an above average year for tropical storms, with 7-9 hurricanes predicted, 3-5 which could be categorized as major (at least Cat 3). As of today, a new tropical wave has developed off the African coast which could become the season's 4th named storm (Dean) over the next few days. For good information on what's developing in the tropics, I highly recommend Weather Underground's tropical website, and Dr Jeff Master's blog to keep abreast of the latest developments regarding tropical storm activity.
The expected weakening is finally occurring as Flossie is down to a Cat 2 hurricane now.. still expected to brush Hilo as it passes by just to the south. Heavy rain and gusty winds to the big island, but it's largely uninhabited so impact should be minimal.
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