image: On Aug. 20, NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured (left to right) a developing area of low pressure in the Central Pacific, Tropical Storm Karina and Tropical Storm Lowell in the Eastern Pacific. view more
Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center noted that Tropical Storm Karina's next move is based on its interaction with Tropical Storm Lowell.
Lowell is positioned to the east of Tropical Storm Karina in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Karina is still well over 1,000 miles away from Hawaii and has become almost stationary as the mammoth Tropical Storm Lowell creeps closer to it. The CPHC expects Karina to start drifting eastward and away from Hawaii starting Thursday, August 21, as Karina starts being affected by Lowell's massive circulation.
On August 20, NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured three tropical low pressure areas lined up from the Eastern to the Central Pacific. From east to west were Tropical Storm Lowell, Tropical Storm Karina and a developing area of low pressure to the southeast of Hawaii. The image was created by NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
At 11 a.m. EDT on August 20, Tropical Storm Karina's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 kph) and the CPHC expects some fluctuations in strength over the next couple of days. Karina was centered near latitude 15.8 north and longitude 136.6 west, about 1,245 miles (2,005 km) east of Hilo, Hawaii. .
As soon as Karina begins to feel the influence of Tropical Storm Lowell's larger circulation in the next day or two, it is expected to drift eastward and then northeastward with an increase in forward speed around the south and east sides of Lowell.
The Central Pacific Hurricane Center noted that once the cyclone moves away from the deep tropics in 3 days or so, it will encounter cooler waters and it will begin to weaken.
Text credit: Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center