Will Tropical Storm Greg and Hurricane Fernanda impact the Hawaii wildfire crisis?
Two features in the Central and Eastern Pacific, Greg and Fernanda, could influence the wind pattern across the Hawaiian Islands to some degree.
AccuWeather forecasters are warning that Tropical Storm Hilary will bring heavy rain to western Mexico and the southwestern U.S. in the coming days.
AccuWeather forecasters are closely monitoring several features across the Pacific waters this week and any impacts that they may bring, with all eyes on the Aloha State following the tragic wildfires that spread across Maui, the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands.
Greg, a tropical storm in the Central Pacific, was more than 500 miles to the south of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and traveling to the west at 14 mph on Thursday. Over the coming days, Greg will remain to the south of Hawaii and take a gradual west-northwest turn from the middle to late part of this week.
Greg to churn south of Hawaii this week
Looking at the broader weather pattern across the region, AccuWeather meteorologists say that an area of high pressure located over the northeast Pacific Ocean combined with Greg's circulation south of Hawaii can play a role in the trade winds across the islands. Moderate trade winds can push across the region through Thursday as the high pressure persists to the north of Hawaii and Greg continues to churn well to the south.
An AccuWeather Enhanced RealVue™ Satellite image of the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, Aug. 17, showed Tropical Storm Greg spinning well to the south of Hawaii and Tropical Storm Fernanda circulating even farther east across the basin.
Because Greg is a less intense storm than Dora was, and the zone of high pressure to the north is not as strong as last week's, the breezy conditions will not be as strong as those that fanned the destructive blazes across the islands several days ago.
Although this feature is not expected to bring any direct impacts to land, Greg can influence the ocean waters.
"Greg can bring elevated wave heights and strong rip currents to the south-facing beaches of the Big Island from the mid- to late week as it passes well south of Hawaii," AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva said.
A small craft advisory was issued for the waters near Maui and the Big Island through 6 p.m. HST Thursday as a result of the potential hazards to small vessels.
Fernanda to shift westward across the East Pacific and approach Hawaiian Islands
Tropical Storm Fernanda was located well to the southwest of Mexico and was several hundreds of miles from the nearest landmass on Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.
The wind field of tropical-storm-force winds from Fernanda extends outward up to 40 miles from the storm's center as it tracks across the East Pacific while losing wind intensity.
Through the end of this week and into this weekend, Fernanda will travel in a generally westward path across the East Pacific basin and continuing to lose wind intensity.
"By the end of the week, Fernanda is likely to fall below tropical cyclone intensity," explained AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty.
Near the end of the weekend into early next week, the remaining circulation of Fernanda can pass across the Hawaiian Islands and bring shower activity and locally gusty winds to the region.
"Fernanda could bring enhanced showers to windward portions of the islands Sunday into Monday, but there may not be too much moisture associated with it since it will be long past dissipated," said Douty.
The uptick in winds across the Hawaiian Islands can cause any existing wildfires to be more challenging to control and pose a risk for any residents in the path of wildfires in Maui.
AccuWeather forecasters expect Hilary to trigger flooding in southwest US
A tropical disturbance that AccuWeather meteorologists have had their eye on for more than a week has developed into a tropical storm.
Tropical Storm Hilary will likely bring rain heavy enough to cause major flooding problems from Southern California to Arizona starting this weekend after blasting Mexico's Baja peninsula with high winds, flooding rain and coastal flooding late this week and early this weekend.
Additionally, there is a low chance for new development early next week off the southern coast of Mexico.
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