NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER
The 5-day forecast track of Tropical Storm Lane, as of 11 a.m. Thursday.
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Tropical Storm Lane formed far out in the East Pacific Wednesday and is forecast to be a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds about 1,000 miles southeast of Hawaii island when it enters the Central Pacific on Saturday.
On Wednesday morning, Lane had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph but it is expected to strengthen over the next three days as it travels west, said Derek Wroe, lead forecaster with the National Weather
Service in Honolulu. The forecast calls for Lane to reach hurricane strength
today and start moving west-northwest late this week.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, Lane was about 2,060 miles southeast of Hilo. At 8 p.m., the storm was bearing maximum sustained winds of
50 mph and moving west
at 13 mph. Tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph or more extended up to
35 miles from Lane’s
center, according to the
National Hurricane Center in Miami, which monitors East Pacific storms.
“Warm ocean water is the fuel for hurricanes,” Wroe said earlier Wednesday. “Expect intensification at least into the weekend. By midday Saturday, it should be approximately 1,000 miles southeast of the Big Island.”
By Monday, Lane is expected to still be a major hurricane a few hundreds of miles southeast of Hilo, with sustained winds of 120 mph and heading northwest, according to the five-day forecast.
National Hurricane
Center forecasters said, “Lane seems destined” to become a major hurricane like Hector, which passed safely south of the islands last week.
