Hurricane Dora continues to trek westward in the open Pacific Ocean as a strong high-pressure system and the storm’s winds have been blamed for enhancing brush fires across several Hawaiian Islands.
Aside from marine interests, forecasters said the hurricane poses no threat to any landmasses over at least the following week.
Well south of the state, Dora is also indirectly enhancing the winds across Hawaii, in conjunction with the ridge of high pressure, the FOX Forecast Center said. Fire crews are battling multiple brush fires on Maui and the Big Island as wind gusts of more than 70 mph boosted the flames. As many as 12 residents in Maui had to enter the ocean due to smoke and fire conditions.
The latest update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center showed the Category 4 hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, and was moving west at 23 mph.
That motion is expected to continue for the next several days, and the NHC said Dora will begin to slow and gradually weaken over the next two days.
The NHC said hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles.
Swells generated by Dora are expected to begin impacting Johnston Island late Wednesday, likely producing large and life-threatening surf through Thursday, the NHC notes.
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Dora might survive an entire trek across the vast Pacific Ocean and enter the western Pacific Ocean basin several days from now.
It would become the second Dora-named storm to accomplish the feat – an occasion that has only been done less than a dozen times in modern hurricane history. Hurricane Dora in 1999 also made the trek from the eastern Pacific Ocean all the way into the western part of the basin.