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Hector passes south, continues west

Strong surf on east shores, breezy conditions are left in storm’s wake

Emily Johnson snaps a photo of a wave crashing over Maalaea Harbor’s breakwall during the peak of Wednesday afternoon’s king tide. She is a crew member for the Pacific Whale Foundation’s Ocean Explorer. Hurricane Hector passed south of the Big Island on Wednesday morning, leaving strong surf and breezy winds behind. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

The Maui News

As expected, Hurricane Hector passed south of the Big Island and continued west on Wednesday morning, leaving minimal impacts in its wake other than strong surf along southeast- and east-facing shores of Maui and Hawaii island, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency reported.

As of 11:30 a.m., the National Weather Service canceled its tropical storm warning for the Big Island.

But forecasters reported that breezy trade winds would prevail across the state, with strong winds affecting Lanai and the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

Surf along east-facing shores was expected to build and peak on Wednesday, with surf heights of 10 to 15 feet for East Maui and the Puna and Kau districts of the Big Island. High surf combined with seasonably high tides were forecast to generate rip currents and overwash in low-lying coastal areas and roadways, forecasters said.

California’s Kelly Morgan (from left) snaps a photo of a wave crashing over the breakwall at Maalaea Harbor Wednesday afternoon as Noah Ho‘opai and Kendel Kamai look on. Ho‘opai and Kamai, who work for Hawaiian Millworks, said they were rained out while working in Napili and stopped to check the surf on their way home.

Forecasters predicted mostly cloudy skies and breezy conditions for Maui County, with occasional windward and mauka showers and scattered morning showers in leeward areas. Locally heavy rainfall is possible this afternoon.

High temperatures are expected to range from 85 to 90, with overnight lows of 73 to 78.

Winds are forecast to blow out of the east from 15 to 25 mph today, diminishing to 15 to 20 mph tonight.

NEWSLETTER

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