HONOLULU — A tropical storm is expected to deliver strong winds and heavy rain to Hawaii this weekend, particularly to the Big Island and Maui, as it passes south of the island chain. The National Weather Service on Thursday evening issued a tropical storm watch for Hawaii County, which includes all of the Big Island, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Hone. The August storm has evoked memories of the powerful hurricane south of Hawaii that helped fuel a deadly wildfire that destroyed Maui’s Lahaina town last summer , but the weather service said that Hone was not creating the same conditions.
Separately, to Hone’s east, Hurricane Gilma was moving west across the Pacific, but it was too early to tell whether it would affect the islands. Hone, which means “sweet and soft” in Hawaiian and is pronounced hoe-NEH, was expected to bring sustained winds of 32 to 48 kph and gusts of 80 mph to Maui and the Big Island. Oahu and Kauai were forecast to get slightly weaker winds.
The Big Island’s east coast and southeastern corner were expected to get 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain Saturday night through Sunday night. Maui could get 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of rain. These predictions could change depending on the storm’s course.
Early Friday, the storm was about 1,078 kilometres east-southeast of Hilo and about 1,416 kilometres east-southeast of Honolulu. It was moving west at 26 kph with maximum sustained winds of 72 kph. The Aug.
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