Hurricane Lane, a devastatingly strong Category 4 storm now, is heading west-northwest over the Pacific, and is forecast to weaken and pass south of the Aloha State around Wednesday or Thursday. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center on Oahu said Lane was 675 miles southeast of Hilo and 885 southeast of Honolulu, moving west at 14 mph, just before 11 p.m. Hurricane-force winds of 75 mph or more extend up to 30 miles from the storm’s center while tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph or more extend 110 miles, forecasters said. At 5 a.m. today, Lane was about 890 miles east-southeast of Hilo and 1,100 miles east-southeast of Honolulu, traveling west at 15 mph, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Hawaii. “Interests in those islands should watch the progress of Lane closely, since long-range forecast track and intensity errors can be large.”

The five-day forecast calls for the storm to be a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, by Friday when it is expected to be hundreds of miles southwest of Oahu, according to the hurricane center. If Lane tracks closer to the islands than Hurricane Hector then conditions will be more severe and if the hurricane is more spread out, then conditions could get a little worse over the islands, in comparison to Hector.
Hurricane Lane weakens to a Category 3 storm and is expected to pass south of Hawaii throughout the next few days.