Recap of Hurricane Lane in 2018

Many Hawaiians left out a huge sigh of relief as Hurricane Lane quickly weakened from a category 3 hurricane to a tropical storm as Lane made his closest approach to the island this past weekend. While the storm did not cause as much damage as some were bracing for, there are many that are still dealing with the impacts of flooding. Here's a recap of Hawaii's encounter with Hurricane Lane.

Hurricane Lane began causing trouble by Wednesday, August 22nd. The image below shows the Rainbow Falls overlook near Hilo, Hawaii in the morning on Thursday, August 23rd. This shows the early impact of Hurricane Lane with the flow over the falls an impressive 26,000 cubic feet per second. According to the United States Geological Survey, the flow caused by Hurricane Lane later in the day on the 23rd possibly exceeded 82,300 cubic feet per second which would make this the highest peak flow on record for the falls (since 1929). Image credit: Gordon Ribble, USGS.



Friday, August 24th, as Hurricane Lane made his closest approach to the islands:



By later on in the day Friday, Lane had weakened dramatically to a tropical storm, but still packed plenty of moisture for the islands:



While the damage caused by Lane was not as bad as it could have been, Lane was still a record-maker:



As of August 28th, Lane continues to spin out in the Pacific as a Tropical Depression. To the east of Hawaii, Tropical Storm Miriam also spins, but she will head north, taking a far more kinder track for Hawaiian residents and tourists:



But it's important that we do not let our guard down as there are several other disturbances in the eastern Pacific that will need to be watched over the next week. We'll also have to keep an eye on the, thus far quiet, Atlantic as indications are that tropical activity will begin to ramp up, especially as we near the climatological peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.