Ignacio lessened in intensity but was still a major Category 3 hurricane as it blew across the Pacific on a route likely to bypass Hawaii on Monday, the U.S. Central Pacific Hurricane Center said Sunday.
Packing potentially destructive winds of 115 mph, the hurricane was about 400 miles east of the Big Island of Hawaii moving north-northwest at 12 mph, the center said.
“It will just pass by the islands,” the center’s spokesman, Neil Honda, said. “There might be some wind and surf.”
With hurricane-force winds extending 30 miles from the storm’s center, waves as high as 20 feet could be expected Sunday and Monday, along with sustained winds of 39 mph, he said.
On the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, which measures potential property damage from a storm, hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered “major” hurricanes with a potential for significant loss of life and damage.
Ignacio is expected to weaken through Tuesday.
Hawaii officials urged residents to prepare in case the storm alters its path and hits the island.
Gov. David Ige signed an emergency proclamation Friday freeing up funds for disaster relief and allowing the suspension of certain laws that could impede “emergency functions.”
Farther away than Ignacio, Hurricane Jimena in the Pacific Ocean about 1,630 miles east of the Big Island of Hawaii was moving to the west-northwest at a speed of 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph poses no immediate threat to land, according to the weather service. It is expected to remain a major hurricane through Monday.
In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Fred strengthened off the coast of Africa on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Fred is forecast to reach hurricane status with winds of 75 mph before moving through the Cape Verde islands Monday, the Miami-based forecaster said.
“Storm surge is expected to produce coastal flooding in areas of onshore winds in the Cape Verde Islands, the NHC said.
Fred, the sixth named storm of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season, is expected to lose hurricane strength by Wednesday as it moves west before likely dissipating.
Fred was only the fourth Atlantic tropical storm to form east of the Cape Verde Island, the NHC said.
“It’s very rare for those islands to see a hurricane,” said John Cangialosi, a specialist with the NHC. “We are checking our records and the last hurricane event we can see was in the 1960s.”
Meanwhile, the remnants of Tropical Storm Erika, which dissipated over Cuba on Saturday, were producing gusty conditions and heavy rain over parts of south Florida, the NHC said.
It could regain tropical storm force over the next day or so, the forecasters said, as it heads for the northwest Florida Panhandle.