Hurricane hunters fly through Hurricane Lowell
Hurricane hunters flew directly into Hurricane Lowell as it churned off the coast of Hawaii on Sept. 7, capturing a dramatic view inside the storm.
The worst of Lowell has passed for the Hawaiian Islands as the storm has been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, and the storm’s path appears to be taking it away from the islands.
The storm brought damaging winds and heavy rainfall to the islands of Kauai and Oahu, with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency reporting widespread power outages on both islands. According to a USA TODAY Power Outage Tracker, Kauai has over 32,000 reported outages, accounting for about 91% of total customers. The agency also said downed trees, utility poles and power lines have been reported across the island.
“People are really struggling. Keep them in your prayers, send resources and support them as you can,” said Hawaii Governor Josh Green in a Sept. 8 news release. “We’re getting people healthcare. We’re going to care for people the best way we can as we build our infrastructure back. There’s a lot of damage on Kauaʻi and it’s going to take quite some time to get back to normal. The mayors are all working together and supporting one another and we’re going to continue doing everything we can to help people recover.”
The National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory that Lowell is weakening and moving away from the Hawaiian Islands. Forecasters said a slow turn toward the northwest then west is expected Wednesday into Thursday, Sept. 10.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to around 65 mph with higher gusts, and gradual weakening is forecast during the next few days, according to the hurricane center. Swells from Lowell will continue to generate life-threatening surf and rip current conditions during the next day or so along exposed coasts of the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.
Tropical Storm Lowell path tracker
This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.
Tropical Storm Lowell spaghetti models
Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@usatoday.com.