 |
| Although Ignacio is weakening, the state could begin to feel the impacts as early as Monday evening. // Photo courtesy of AccuWeather.com. |
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, Hurricane Ignacio was located about 400 miles east of Hilo and was moving northwest at 12 miles per hour as a category 3 hurricane, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for Hawaii County and Maui County. Although Ignacio is weakening, the state could begin to feel the impacts as early as Monday evening.
The main danger Ignacio poses in the near-term is rough seas for those with shipping interests, according to AccuWeather.com.
"The initial thinking is that Ignacio will pass just east of the Big Island Monday night, local time," stated AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski on Thursday. "The large area of high pressure to the north could help guide it close to the other islands Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, but it will be weakening by that time due to passing over slightly cooler waters."
For visitor related information and a list of closures due to the weather, please visit the "Special Alert" section of the HTA website www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/special-alert.
For travel safety tips, please visit the HTA's Travel Smart Hawaii website at www.travelsmarthawaii.com and download the Travel Safety Brochure, which is available in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. We recommend familiarizing visitors with this information.
Visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org and keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for more updates on this story. Be sure to visit Travel Agent's Joe Pike on Twitter @TravelPike.