August 3, 2019 - Hurricane Erick off Hawaii

Tropical Depression Six-E developed on Saturday, July 27, 2019. It formed about 1,215 miles (1,955 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Mexico. At 5:15 p.m. EDT that day, it strengthened into a tropical storm and was re-named Erick.

By July 30, the storm had strengthened and moved westward, making Hurricane Erick the first tropical cyclone to enter the Central Pacific Ocean during the 2019 Hurricane Season. By the end of the day, Erick’s winds peaked at 130 mph (215 km/h) which brought the strength to Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At that time, the storm was located about 750 miles (1,210 km) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. It was tracking west-northwest, on a track towards Hawaii, at 15 mph (24 km/h).

Hurricane Erick continued its track across the Pacific Ocean for the next several days, slowly moving towards a more hostile environment. The increasing wind shear caused the storm to continue to weaken. By August 2, Erick had become a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h). It was located about 250 miles (495 km) southwest of Hilo, Hawaii or about 310 mi (505 km) south of Honolulu Hawaii and was moving west northwest at 14 mph (22 km/h).

While Tropical Storm Erick is expected to pass south of the Hawaiian Islands, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast that swells generated by Erick will continue to affect the Hawaiian Islands on August 2, producing dangerous surf conditions mainly along the east and southeast facing shores. Moisture from the storm will continue to spread over portions of the Islands through August 3, bringing a potential for total rainfall amounts of a possible 4-8 inches, with localized higher amounts.

On August 1, 2019, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of Hurricane Erick passing to the south of the Hawaiian Islands.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/1/2019
Resolutions: 1km (4.2 MB), 500m (4.2 MB), 250m (7.3 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC