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Impacts in Hawaii will depend on when the disturbance begins moving west-northwestward and how much it strengthens. Squalls could increase across the islands as seas build beginning this weekend.<\/p>\n
Two main track scenarios are emerging for the high-risk area highlighted southeast of Hawaii, AccuWeather Meteorologist Nicholas Arman said.<\/p>\n
“A northern track would likely take the storm over cooler waters, leading to a less intense storm and fewer impacts in the Hawaiian Islands this weekend,” Arman explained. “A southern track would take the storm over warmer waters, potentially allowing it to become more intense or even a hurricane, with more significant impacts to the islands.”<\/p>\n
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“There’s also the possibility the storm travels directly over the island chain with significant impacts,” Arman added.<\/p>\n
If the area of interest strengthens into a tropical storm or hurricane and tracks close enough to Hawaii, it could produce dangerous seas and surf, heavy rain, flash flooding and locally damaging winds.<\/p>\n
GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Even if the system does not become a named storm, the tropical wave could strengthen trade winds and bring more frequent showers and thunderstorms to parts of the islands.<\/p>\n How common are hurricane strikes on Hawaii?<\/strong><\/p>\n Direct hurricane strikes on Hawaii are rare despite the island chain’s location in the central Pacific.<\/p>\n Several factors can limit the hurricane threat, including surrounding ocean temperatures, atmospheric wind patterns and wind shear. Hawaii’s rugged terrain can also significantly disrupt a tropical storm or hurricane that moves directly over an island. Mauna Kea on the Big Island rises nearly 13,800 feet above sea level.<\/p>\n This image of the tropical central and eastern Pacific was captured on Tuesday morning, Aug. 11, 2026, and shows a large mass of showers and thunderstorms near the center of the image, which could intensify into a tropical depression. (AccuWeather Enhanced RealVue\u2122 Satellite)<\/p>\n “Only two hurricanes have made landfall in Hawaii since the 1950s,” AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said. “Hurricane Dot made landfall on Kauai in August 1959, and Hurricane Iniki struck Kauai in September 1992. Neither made landfall on the Big Island.”<\/p>\n Busy hurricane season to get busier, thanks to strengthening El Ni\u00f1o<\/strong><\/p>\n As of Aug. 11, the eastern Pacific has produced seven named storms, including two hurricanes, so far this season as El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> continues to strengthen.<\/p>\n Genevieve became the strongest of the two hurricanes, reaching Category 5 intensity with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph in late July.<\/p>\n Fausto is the only named storm so far this season to have traveled as far west as Hawaii’s longitude. The weakening tropical storm passed well north of the islands in late July, limiting its effects to increased waves and isolated showers.<\/p>\n Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+<\/a> on the AccuWeather app<\/a>. <\/a>AccuWeather Alerts\u2122<\/a> are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24\/7 to keep you and your family safer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large area of thunderstorms about 1,000 miles southeast of the Big Island of Hawaii will evolve into…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":995398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,26621,159,398847,5314,51940,21747,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-995397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-hawaii","tag-science","tag-the-big-island-of-hawaii","tag-thunderstorms","tag-tropical-development","tag-tropical-storm","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117080636886629525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=995397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/995398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"AccuWeather.com\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/accuweather_articles_339\/baddc913556d11049a627e351a690b13.jpg\"\/)
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