Nolo still going strong, now a typhoon in the western North Pacific

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Three weeks after developing in the far eastern North Pacific, Nolo — the season’s longest-lasting tropical cyclone — is still going.

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It’s now known as Typhoon Nolo. It got the name change Sunday when it crossed the International Date Line into the western North Pacific Basin.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nolo was located 395 miles west-southwest of Lisianski Island, or about 1,450 miles west-northwest of Honolulu. It was moving west at 17 miles per hour with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane.

Nolo began Sept. 13 as Tropical Depression Fifteen-E. The National Hurricane Center declared it dissipated just two days later. But its remnants redeveloped quickly on Sept. 22, some 400 miles south-southeast of Hilo.

The tropical cyclone quickly developed into a hurricane and got the Hawaiian name Nolo because it became a tropical storm in the central North Pacific basin.

Nolo was a category 2 hurricane when it made its closest approach to Hawaii Island on Sept. 26, when its center was 145 miles south of South Point. Hawaii Island was placed under a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning, while a tropical storm watch was issued for Maui County.

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Nolo was well south of the main Hawaiian islands when it strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane with 150 mile per hour winds — just below the Category 5 threshold.

Nolo followed hurricanes Lala and Lowell. Two people died in August when Lala sent catastrophic rain to Hawaii Island, where floodwaters also cut off the town of Pahala. Just a few weeks later, Lowell sent destructive waves and storm surges to Kauai’s south shore.

Forecasters at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center had predicted anywhere from 5 to 13 tropical cyclones in the central North Pacific this hurricane season, which ends on November 30. So far, there have been seven: Hurricanes Fausto, Lala, Lowell, Karina and Nolo, along with tropical storms Moke and Norbert.

The JWTC predicted Nolo will weaken into a tropical storm midweek, but could strengthen again into a typhoon by Friday as it continues to track toward Japan.

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