Eastern Pacific: Barbara is now strong Category 4 Hurricane, but it's likely to weaken in the days ahead
-
- Update: Cat 2 Hurricane Barbara continues to weaken with sustained wind speeds of 100mph, is now at N16°41'0", W130°48'0"
- Update: Watch this: GOES West captures total solar eclipse and Barbara in one shot
Hurricane Barbara is the second named storm of the 2019 Pacific Hurricane season. Barbara, much stronger than Alvin, peaked at near Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (Alvin made it to Cat 1), is expected to gradually weaken in the next couple of days.
At 5 p.m. in Hawaii, Barbara had maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and was centered 1,175 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California and about 2,067 miles southeast of Hilo, the NWS reported.
Barbara is not threatening land, but it could potentially bring intense storms to Hawaii. Starting Saturday morning, swell from Barbara may arrive along east-facing shores of the Big Island, and possibly Maui, forecasters expect.
Gradual weakening is expected on Wednesday, followed by faster weakening on Thursday and Friday. Barbara is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm some time on Friday.
NOAA expects 2019 to be an "above-normal" hurricane season in the eastern Pacific basin (as compared to normal season) with 5-8 named storms.
Here's the wind accumulation forecast (visit this link the get the latest one)
Track the path of Barbara with Windy Hurricane tracker and enjoy the satellite imagery below.
GOES West loop, 2 July 2019
Substantial amount of lightning rotating around the eyewall of Barbara
