Hurricane Iniki

[Kingarabian]

Hurricane Iniki's 20th anniversary was yesterday. The strongest hurricane to ever hit Hawaii and the most costly.

Since then, no hurricane has ever made landfall on Hawaii in over 20 years.

Major Hurricane Neki of 2009 could have hit Hawaii however if it had gotten it's act together early on.

Hurricane Flossie pf 2007 threatened the Big Island of Hawaii as well. Flossie was a really unusual storm.

[somethingfunny]

I think Iniki was a once-in-a-century type of storm. Its' path was absolutely perfect and exceptionally unusual. We may never see another hurricane like it. I hope we don't.

If it had hit Oahu, south-facing Pearl Harbor would have funneled surge perfectly into Honolulu for a horrific catastrophe. It hit poor Kauai instead. It's a strange coincidence of nature that all of Hawaii's worst hurricanes have hit Kauai - none anywhere close to as strong as Iniki though.

As Iniki turned to the north, it continued to strengthen, reaching a peak of 145 mph (235 km/h) winds on September 11 while 170 miles (270 km) south-southwest of Poʻipū on the island of Kauaʻi. It continued rapidly to the north-northeast, and made landfall on south-central Kauai early on the 11th with sustained winds of 145 mph (235 km/h), making Iniki a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of up to 175 mph (280 km/h). The highest recorded wind speed from Hurricane Iniki was a 227 mph (365 km/h)reading from the Navy's Makaha Ridge radar station. According to the Honolulu Advertiser, that remarkable figure was recorded at a digital weather station whose wind gauging equipment blew off after taking the measurement during the storm. After crossing the island, Iniki rapidly accelerated north-northeastward, weakened rapidly, and was absorbed by a cold front as it lost tropical characteristics and became extratropical on September 13 about halfway between Alaska and Hawaiʻi.

Upon making landfall the hurricane produced storm tides of 4.5–6 feet (1.4–1.8 m), with some portions of the coastlines having high water marks of up to 18 feet (5.5 m). In addition, strong waves of up to 35 feet (10.5 m) in height crashed along the southern coastline for several hours, causing a debris line of more than 800 feet (250 m) inland.

[Kingarabian]

It's that sharp right turn that amazes me. Warnings were also issued very late!

[CrazyC83]

I would have thought later in the season would be more conducive for a Hawaii hit...as a recurve is more likely then (like 2009's Neki). What setup allowed Iniki to make that turn?

[masaji79]

I can't believe it's been 20 years. My first and last hurricane. On of the reasons I moved to the desert.

[Kingarabian]

I would have thought later in the season would be more conducive for a Hawaii hit...as a recurve is more likely then (like 2009's Neki). What setup allowed Iniki to make that turn?

This. Can anyone explain? It gets off the coast of Africa, makes it all the way to the CPac, gets past the island of Oahu, then decides to make a turn. Weird.

[somethingfunny]

This is just from Wikipedia:

The origin of Iniki is unclear, but it possibly began as a tropical wave that exited the African coast on August 18. It moved westward across the unfavorable Atlantic Ocean and crossed Central America into the Pacific on the August 28. The wave continued rapidly westward and remained disorganized. Conditions slowly became more favorable, and, as the convection concentrated around a center, the wave was classified Tropical Depression Eighteen-E on September 5. At this time, the wave was located 1700 miles (2700 km) southwest of Cabo San Lucas or 1550 miles (2500 km) east-southeast of Hilo.[1] Initially, the thunderstorm activity was not concentrated towards the center and thus the depression was not expected to intensify beyond minimal tropical storm strength.[2] The depression continued quickly westward and remained weak until the September 8, when it slowed enough to strengthen to a tropical storm.[1]

Located at the southern periphery of a subtropical ridge, Iniki continued westward and strengthened over the unusually favorable central Pacific; it reached hurricane status on September 9 while 470 miles (760 km) south-southeast of Hilo. The subtropical ridge, which typically keeps hurricanes well away from the Hawaiian Islands, weakened due to an approaching upper level-trough and allowed Iniki to turn to the northwest. With very favorable upper-level outflow and warm water temperatures, Iniki steadily intensified, and attained major hurricane status on September 10 while south-southwest of the island chain.[1]

...

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) failed to issue tropical cyclone warnings and watches for the hurricane well in advance. For several days prior to the disaster, the CPHC and the news media forecast Iniki to remain well south of the island chain, with the only effect being some high surf conditions. Some of the standard international computer models were indicating a northward turn towards the populated Hawaiian Islands, but these were rejected by the CPHC forecasters. CHPC Advisory #19 was issued at 11 AM local time on September 10, and suggested that a weakening Iniki would remain well to the south. It was not until a special bulletin was issued by the CPHC at 6:30 PM on September 10—less than 24 hours before landfall—that any warning was given to the public.[3]
A hurricane watch was issued for Kauaʻi early on September 11 and was upgraded to a hurricane warning later that day.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/iniki/iniki1.pdf

[Yellow Evan]

Hurricane Iniki's 20th anniversary was yesterday. The strongest hurricane to ever hit Hawaii and the most costly.

Since then, no hurricane has ever made landfall on Hawaii in over 20 years.

Major Hurricane Neki of 2009 could have hit Hawaii however if it had gotten it's act together early on.

Hurricane Flossie pf 2007 threatened the Big Island of Hawaii as well. Flossie was a really unusual storm.

Eugene 93 made landfall as a TD though.

As for Iniki, it's also one of the few Hawaii hurricane strikes (not landfalls, but strikes). The others were Hiki 50, Nina 57, Dot 59, Ia 82 (who's 30 year anniversary happens to be this year) and Nele 85.

[Yellow Evan]

I would have thought later in the season would be more conducive for a Hawaii hit...as a recurve is more likely then (like 2009's Neki). What setup allowed Iniki to make that turn?

Well, most Hawaii hurricane strikes are in the late-season.