Orlene Expected to Near Hurricane Status on Monday

Forecasters with the National Weather Service are monitoring Tropical Storm Orlene, that is currently located several hundred miles SW of the southern tip of Baja California.

The National Hurricane Center says the system will move to the WNW and intensify to a “minimal hurricane” by Monday afternoon.

Orlene is forecast to slow in forward speed through the early part of next week as it takes a turn toward the NNW, and makes its way toward the Central Pacific.

At 5 a.m. HST, the center of Tropical Storm Orlene was
located near latitude 15.4 North, longitude 116.8 West. The system was moving toward the NW near 14 mph.  According to the latest forecast, Orlene had maximum sustained winds near 45 mph, with tropical-storm force winds extending outward up to 80 miles from the center.

The system is still too far out to determine its potential impacts to Hawaiʻi.

Orlene 5-day track as of 8 a.m. PDT 9.11.16. Image: National Hurricane Center/NOAA/NWS

5 a.m. HST 9.11.16. Satellite imagery of TS Orlene courtesy National Hurricane Center/NOAA/NWS.

Orlene 5-day track as of 8 a.m. PDT 9.11.16. Image: National Hurricane Center/NOAA/NWS