Go South, Madeline!

[Kim]

Ominous visuals:  http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/sat_flash.php?type=Hawaiiir

[SubTropicRay]

Kim,

It would be better if the eye went right over the Big Island with the worst weather to the north.  On the current more southern forecast track, the Big Island would see the worst of the weather.  Typically, the worst weather is on the NE quadrant of a storm.  Go north Madeline!

[Mike Evans]

That is a very ominous track for 2 Hurricanes.  Hope the best for everyone in Hawaii, especially everyone on the Wet windy side.  Hang in there! 

[Kim]

No chance of it going north this time. Lester, which is following, is still projected to go north.  Fortunately Madeline has dropped from Cat 4 to Cat 1, the typical slowing as it approaches the mass of the Big Island.  Really hoping this will be nothing more than a lot of rain.

[Kim]

Downgraded to a Tropical Storm, good news.  Winds are slower.

[bgl]

We've already had over two inches of rain in Leilani Estates since about midnight and I'm sure that's only a fraction of what we can expect. But rain is never an issue here - wind however is. And we most definitely wouldn't want the eye to go right across the island (a moot point, though - it's heading south of us). That's almost exactly what happened two years ago with Iselle, which had already been downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit land. But it caused total devastation in Leilani Estates and lower Puna. Many roads were impassable because of fallen trees, or large tree branches and power was out for a week, or even more in some areas. As of 1:20 pm local time, we are experiencing occasional strong winds and intense downpours. No problem with the power up to this point.