2am ANA UPDATE: 10/17/14, Ana is Larger, Stronger Storm This Morning

Satellite imagery, 2 a.m. HST, Friday, Oct. 17, 2014, courtesy NOAA/NWS.

by Meteorologist Malika Dudley

***An update as of 5 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014, is now posted at the following LINK.

The Central Pacific Center has just issued their intermediate update stating, “The center of tropical storm Ana was located by an air force reserve hurricane hunter aircraft near latitude 15.4 north, longitude 153.7 west. Ana is moving toward the west-northwest near 14 mph. This motion is expected to continue tonight, with a slight turn to the northwest later today and Saturday. A decrease in forward speed is expected on Saturday.”

Maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph
Gradual strengthening is expected during the next 24 hours, with Ana possibly becoming a hurricane later today. Slight weakening is expected on Saturday.
Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 70 miles

Distance from Maui County:

420 miles SSE of Kahului
455 miles SSE of Kaunakakai
430 miles SSE of Lānaʻi City

As this is an intermediate advisory, the FULL 11 p.m. update can be viewed here.