And, here comes Ignacio AND Jimena!!

 Ignacio is shown on the right, headin toward Hawai'i

Tropical Depressions (TD) become tropical storms, become typhoons (over water) then are called hurricanes when they hit land -- like last year's Hurricane Iselle that did so much damage to the Puna District, where we live on the Big Island.

So far this year, partially due to it being an El Nino year for weather patterns, the Pacific Ocean, and in particular, Hawai'i Islands are being surrounded by weather events.  A couple weeks ago, as we reported on the blog, Guillermo was headed at us, but then veered to the right; days later, Hilda was coming in the same direction, but shifted to the left. Now, meet Ignacio.

Hawaii is represented by the GREEN dot (upper left)

Morning coffee lately has been spent at the computer, checking in with storm models via NOAA and WunderMaps.  We watch to see when they become official and are named.  Then we watch to see which ones are headed directly toward the islands, where they could easily hit the Big Island first.  The 5-day forecast has Ignacio arriving Sat/Sun Aug 29/30.  This is mid-hurricane season, and we are already at #12 (or 13?) which means they will keep coming for another few weeks at least.

Saturday - August 29th

8/29 UPDATE:  A couple days after Ignacio became "official," here comes JIMENA...and who knows how many more.  This double storm photo illustrates just how SMALL the islands look in comparison to the storms.  Hawaii.  This is the FIRST TIME EVER that three hurricanes hit the Central Pacific Ocean all at the same time!

9/1 UPDATE:  Whew (again) both Ignacio and Jimena have danced to the north -- we are very glad that they didn't spin in toward Hawaii!