Ads by Google Ads by Google

TS Flossie begins to weaken, could still bring flooding to Hawaii

Tropical Storm Flossie weakened slightly this morning after reaching near-hurricane strength Friday night. The storm is now packing winds of 65 mph with higher gusts and was expected to enter the Central Pacific at about 8 a.m., when forecasters in Honolulu took over responsibility for tracking and reporting on the storm as it approaches Hawaii.At 5 a.m., Flossie was about 1,035 miles east of Hilo moving west northwest at about 20 mph. Tropical storm force winds extend 160 miles from the center. Late Friday night, the storm reached maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, just under category 1 hurricane status of 74 mph.But the National Hurricane Center in Florida says Flossie has started to weaken and should continue to lose intensity and slow its forward motion over the next several days as it hits drier air and wind shear.The National Weather Service expects to issue a tropical storm watch and a flash flood watch for Hawaii later today.Honolulu forecasters repeated a special notice this morning saying that \abundant tropical moisture associated with Flossie will bring elevated potential for very heavy rainfall and flash flooding for parts of the state on Monday and Tuesday.”The latest track of the storm has it passing over the Big Island Monday and south of the other islands Tuesday as a tropical storm