MAJOR hurricane heading toward Hawaii
 

If you are heading to Hawaii in the next couple of weeks, you should pay special attention to the weather. Right now there is a category 3 hurricane headed toward Hawaii, and with hurricanes you never know the exact track of the storm they are very unpredictable. The forcasters I heard said that the storm is expected to get stronger, as it is in open very warm water, and that's not good news.

Track will take it close to Hawaii by Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Hopefully it will fizzle out before it hits land, let's all pray for that.

Oh no! Hold on to your hats & be careful!

Okay, I am scheduled to arrive for our vacation on Sunday. I have no experience with this. Should I assume the flight will be cancelled? Was busy planning snorkel excursion when I saw the weather. Should I cancel the whole trip while I can still get some money back, or am I jumping to conclusions. It sounds scary.

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I live in Austin, TX and watch News 8 Austin. This morning during the weather forecast the hurricane headed in the direction of Hawaii was talked about. The hurricane is going to lose strength before it gets to Hawaii.

Also I went to www.weather.com and I copy/pasted this from the Hurricane Felicia headline:
"Felicia is forecast to make a turn in a more westerly direction this weekend, while encountering dry air and shearing winds aloft. This will likely quickly weaken the system through this weekend, with it nearing or passing just south of the Big Island of Hawaii early next week as a weak tropical storm or tropical depression.
At this time it appears any impacts, if any, to Hawaii will be minimal, and would not occur until later Monday."

OK, if the hurricane comes in & really messes things up right before our trip (Aug 19), I will feel like I'm the "kiss of death", so to speak. We are coming in for our 25th anniversary. For our 5th anniversary, we planned a trip to St. Croix. A few days before we were scheduled to leave, Hurrican Hugo whipped thru & destroyed our hotel, plus much of the island (the worst storm in their history). I will be praying harder than anyone, I think. This can't happen to us twice!!!

hawaiivirgin, I think your trip is far enough away that it will be fine. I am scheduled to fly to maui this sunday! I don't know if planes will even fly in/out in that kind of weather. I am picturing planes that can't leave and hotel guests stuck, and a general mess. louistraveler5 thanks for posting the weather link. I am going to watch it all day before I make a decision. Even if it misses, it sounds like I will be in for a rainy week. ugh. (Of course, wishing the islands and islanders all safety, first)

When I posted this the Hurricane was gaining strength, so I'm so glad we scared the Hurricane out of the water, so to say, lol. Last night it was a category 4, so thankfully it sounds like it will be wearing itself out over the next few days,,,,,,,phew.

Which island are you going to? That may make a difference.

Here's the most recent Weather Channel prediction.
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/hurricanecentral/2009/felicia.html?from=search_siteresults<1>#articleJum p

Do you have trip insurance? You probably won't need it, but just in case...... Good luck.

going to maui and kaui...no insurance...can get refund on some of it...still undecided...even if it "misses" it will be rainy. was so looking forward to sunny hawaii. will probably have to decide between no hawaii or rainy hawaii.

If you look at the 10 day forecast for Maui, you'll see the highest chance of rain is 50%...and for several days it's only 30% or 40%. So that means that it's more likely to NOT rain than it is to rain. The chance of rain in Kauai is slightly higher though still maxes out at 50%.

Sounds like a no brainer to me...if you can't get all your money back, a rainy Hawaii is far better than no Hawaii. Why spend all that money and *not* go??

Can you delay your trip a week or two with less of a financial impact?

beanweb, where did you see that forecast? I saw percentages of 70 -100% on forecast.weather.gov

I believe I can salvage the airfare and kauai hotel (the most expensive parts...but not the maui hotel)
still really want to go!!
mostly concerned about flying through that weather (sunday arrival). also, going all that way and not doing road to hana, halekala due to wind or water or something.

I can bump the trip up a little bit, but I have to figure out how to do that.

I have traveled before and after a hurricane and its not pretty..lots of friends lost homes and businesses during Iniki on 9-11-92..it took them years to recover and Kauai too.
We are going to Kauai the first week of September..haven't booked..still waiting for prices to drop...its almost $800 rt from SD to LIH..
May it pass away from the islands..this is the last thing Hawaii needs right now.

I was checking weather.com.

I agree that traveling before/after a hurricane is not pretty, but the current forecast is that the activity in Hawaii will be more along the lines of a tropical storm and not a hurricane.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_w...s_hawaii_.html

Your flight might be a bit bumpy, but the airlines will not fly if it is unsafe. You can always call your airline now and see what their current stance is.

If you're checking on a hurricane, try the National Hurricane Center web site:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/grap...daynl#contents

hawaiivirgin- i feel your pain! my husband and i had been in two hurricaines and a tropical storm and had always had bad weather on every trip before we were married. so when were planning our honeymoon my mom wanted to give us the $$ to go st thomas we told her no as it was hurricaine season- sept 9, 1989. so we went to hawaii like every other CA honeymooners and had perfect weather- not even afternoon rain. however we were walking down street in maui and saw hurricaine hugo hits st thomas!! had to call mom!! and of course iniki hit on our 3rd anniversary but we weren't there. have spent probbaly half of our 20 anniversaries in hawaii with no problems. we are going to kauai sept 3rd for our 20th so we'll see. hopefully gods will be with us- it got so bad for awhile freinds wouldn't travel with us or we're asking where we were going for vacation so they went somewhere far far away!

LMAO, toncasmo!! Well, it's looking like we'll be OK, as the storm should be long gone by the 19th. I just hope it won't leave damage behind in it's wake. They don't need that on top of the economy.

Rebecca, I will keep my fingers crossed for your vacation! Hey, it's a hurricane, you never know what it will decide to do at the last minute.

I'm still watching the weather and hoping for the best. I was supposed to book tours today, but didn't. Boat rides will be out, but can the road to hana be done in the rain? What about Halelekala ?

Here's another website http://www.hawaiiweathertoday.com/maui.php it gives forcasts for the various areas of Maui (and the other islands) from someone in Hawaii.

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OH goodness... hoping all our fodorties on the islands are going to be safe and that this passes over...

I live on Oahu and I'm not at all concerned about the looming storm coming our way. I welcome it! We need the rain and the wind! Cools things down, cleans things up and makes it all green again.

As for doing things in the rain - well, it's always raining somewhere on these islands so you just sort of plan for it. I would LOVE to do Haleakala in the rain. It would be beautiful to see it like that.

RebeccaNJ - thank your lucky stars that rain is coming for the road to Hana - it will make the dozens of waterfalls that much more spectacular. No rain lately, so they are not really as beautiful as they are after a good rain!

That being said - if we do get a lot of rain, stay out of the ocean. Storm run-off is not good to swim in and can bring out the predators in murky water. And stay out of rivers as well - flash floods can hit and sweep you out to sea. This happens a lot here.

Check with this local news station for good updates: http://www.kitv.com/index.html
They keep up to minute with the news more than the Honolulu Advertiser does.

Again, I wouldn't be too concerned. It will probably be stormy and rainy but that does bring a whole new way of seeing things here.

Aloha!
Denise

I am also leaving for Maui this Sunday and was looking forward to snorkeling, luau, Road to Hana, and Haleakala. I'm slightly irritated right now because of this. But it's a good thing I got a heads up by checking out the weather online. I'm hoping it won't be as bad as the weather forecasts...but still! =\

If it keeps going toward Big Island, Big Island will be the only island really affected. The other islands may get a little needed rain. The massive Big Island mountains will knock the hurricanes winds down fast.

If it veers south of the Big Island then any island could get hit if it then takes a northern track after passing Big Island as Iniki did.

If it veers north of the Big Island, then it will be in cooler water & weaken & just bring needed rain to all islands.

I follow the weather forecasts of Glenn James, whose website is recommended above by martym. His latest word is that Maui will get a good soaking Monday and Tuesday, with fair weather expected to return by Wednesday. Good news for me, since I'll be arriving on Aug 18th for a short stay. The rain is good news for Maui, though. I have never seen things so brown and dry as on my last visit in January.

We leave tomorrow for Kauai - Poipu to be exact - I don't know with it being the farthest north if there will be less impact. Just not looking forward to being stuck in a hotel room with a 7 & 4 year old.

I agree about being irritated - this is our "big" trip for the summer and when have been looking forward to it since school got out in May. However we have spent the last 2 summers in Costa Rica during the start of their rainy season and were even impacted a bit by Hurrican Dean, but it never kept us from doing what we wanted to.

We were in Princeville in Dec of 91 when a 'weak' tropical storm hit, it killed 5 due to flooding. Iniki deaths were limited to 6 partially because people were prepared and remembered what happened just months earlier. Anyways the main road washed out and trapped people on both sides, the Princeville resort(Class Act) allowed people to sleep in their lobby that night and the next.

I have been following the weather reports of Glenn James, too, all day yesterday and today. I have not cancelled yet, but will most likely do so. My flight is tomorrow, and I was supposed to be in Maui until Thursday. I am thinking that I will be stuck in the hotel until Wed and that the ocean will be too rough all week to ever get in it. I have been looking forward to this trip, as well. I am hoping to take the plane credit and use it to go to Hawaii another time. However, for me, that won't be until at least April or maybe next summer (sigh). I would rather go when I can see the Maui I've been dreaming about. Anyway, my husband had already asked for the time off, and this is it, our vacation time, so now we are scambling to figure out where we can go. We live in NJ and would like to drive somewhere. We have already explored New England thoroughly, and are thinking of just getting in the car and driving south. We have never seen the beaches of either North or South Carolina and really want to do a "beach" somewhere! Anywhere! Is it just too crazy hot down South this time of year? Always wanted to see Charleston and the Sea Islands. I want to see something "different" than NJ, as much as I like the Jersey Shore. Trying to make the best of the situation, lemon out of lemonaid. I am glad the people of Hawaii will be safe.

Bummer Rebecca - can you rebook for the islands? Shorter flight for you - some great deals on hotels I keep seeing down there!

I truly wish I were getting on a plane to Maui tomorrow morning. From what I've read the storm is weakening and not expected until mon/tues and may have weakened to a tropical depression by then.

By the islands do you mean the Caribbean? I thought about that, but would rather save the plane "credit" to go to Hawaii later (I paid a lot). It looks like we will be doing a "road trip", which we haven't done since we were in our early twenties (we are late thirties now. It is a strange situation, we can basically drive anywhere, we basically have a wide open free 10-12 days, which never happens, and I guess the open road. Don't want to waste the time, want to see something, anything! Want to feel like I got out of NJ this summer (love NJ, but have wander lust)

I think we're just gonna suck it up and go. We've been looking forward to this trip (five of us) and we've booked our luau and everything. So why the heck not, right? We'll be there 'til the following Monday so hopefully we can make up some lost time from the rain.

safe journey isabeiny! I would go in a heartbeat. The storm is likely to just be a bit of weather. There may or may not be some big rain. But rain and paradise are a requirement to make rainbows and waterfalls. I was sad to hear people canceling their dream vacation. But then I adore weather and some require that the long journey guarentees sunshine and swimmable beaches.

I wish you grand adventures and fond memories in the making. such an exciting time to visit the islands, all wet and lush and rejuvinated.

Gyppie,
You are right about the waterfalls and rainbows. We caught a heliocopter ride after the storm past...WOW!! N shore Kauai waterfalls like that are a once in a lifetime sight

Don't cancel your trip!!!! Just got back from 3 weeks. 2 weeks on Kauai and 1 week on the big island. Weather or no weather it is beautiful. We were on Kauai where it rained for 15 hours straight on north and east side as well as inland. Headed to the west shore beaches and had a great day. Beautiful rainbows and waterfalls. The storm will be over before you knoiw it.

Thank you very much! I am really excited now that the weather isn't as bad as I imagined it would be. You're right; without rain, we'd have no rainbows and waterfalls!

P.S. I do hope the Road to Hana would be safe to take, yes?

You can check Maui road conditions online or by telephone while you are on the island. The Maui News (daily paper) will have info, also. I would wait a couple days after major rainfall and/or windstorm to do the drive. It is not uncommon for overflowing streams to lead to bridge closures and mud or debris on road. Give crews a chance to clean things up, then go enjoy those beautiful waterfalls.

party on Isabeiny! Check the locals for road conditions, but a bit of rain is normal or rather hoped for on the road to Hana. Hope you have grand adventures. I just cannot imagine cancelling a trip under these conditions. But then again, I am from New England where weather changes like the weather!

and please, please, please

don't turn your back on the ocean and respect its power, and when hiking on slippery slopes protect your head if you should fall

other than that

enjoy!

Thanks for the tip, gyppie!
I just checked KITV and got this:

http://www.kitv.com/severeweather/3533440/detail.html

Still trying to stay positive. We're arriving Sunday night so we should be (hopefully) comfy in our condo before it hits. Gaaah.