Barely holding on to hurricane strength, Iselle's outer edges brought rain and wind to Hawaii on Thursday afternoon as it approached landfall, poised to become the first hurricane or tropical storm to hit the island chain in 22 years and whose path another hurricane closely followed.
Hurricane Iselle was expected to pass overnight across the Big Island, one of the least populated islands known for coffee fields, volcanoes and black sand beaches, then send rain and high winds to the rest of the state on Friday. The storm's predicted track had it skirting just south of the other islands.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Julio, a Category 2 storm, followed Iselle's path with sustained maximum winds of 105 mph. It was about 1,000 miles behind Iselle and projected to head just north of the islands sometime early Sunday morning.
Hawaii's Big Island was hit with a 4.5 magnitude earthquake Thursday, just hours before the first of two hurricanes swirling toward the islands was scheduled to hit.
The quake didn't cause any major damage. It struck as residents were waking up to make last-minute trips to grocery stores and boarding up their homes ahead of the first hurricane set to hit the Hawaiian islands in more than two decades.
At a grocery store in Waimea, an employee said the quake felt like a "little jolt," but it didn't knock things off the shelves.
Hurricane Iselle was supposed to weaken as it moved across the Pacific, but it didn't do so. Following close behind is Hurricane Julio, which strengthened early today into a Category 2 storm.
For hurricanes to make landfall in Hawaii at all is very unusual, says ABC7 Meteorologist Mike Caplan. The last tropical cyclone to do so was Iniki, in September of 1992.
"What makes this situation so unusual is that it's coming from the east," says Caplan. "Typically, cooler sea surface temperatures, wind shear and dry air effectively 'kill,' or at least weaken, tropical cyclones as they approach from the east."
According to Caplan, hurricanes and tropical cyclones almost always approach from the south, as Iniki did in 1992 and Iwa in November of 1982.
State officials say the islands are ready for the storms. They say people should prepare, but not panic.
Julio's maximum winds are whipping at 105 miles an hour. Forecasters expect it to get stronger before gradually weakening by tonight. Caplan says it is also forecast to move well north of the islands as it weakens over the next few days.
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