Tropical Storm Watches continue as Hilda downgrades from a Hurricane

In the latest information on Hilda, she has officially been downgraded to a Tropical Storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 MPH.  Hilda is now at 17.0  North, and 152.2 West and is moving towards the West at 4 MPH, currently 265 miles Southeast of Hilo, Hawaii.  Hilda will continue to move between West and Northwest over the next day and then move to the South of the Hawaiian Islands on Thursday and Friday.

The Satellite imagery taken throughout the day has shown the wind shear beginning to take Hilda’s core apart and  the deep convection around the core has been pulled away from the central circulation. This shear is assisting in the turn towards the West.  The beginning of this process was observed this morning by a run of the 53rd Weather Recon Squadron, who reported the start of this process.  Currently, the Squadron is back in the air on their way to make another pass of Hilda.

Outer bands from the Tropical Storm have begun to move into the region around the big island and heavy rainfall will begin to move into the area over the course of next day.   A Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect for Hawaii County where winds over 40 MPH are still expected over the next 2 days.  However, Hilda is quickly diminishing in strength and is expected to continue to weaken over the next 48 hours so winds of the current 65 mph are not expected in the area.

Forecaster Robert Millette