In what’s being called an extremely rare and unprecedented event, two tropical storms are set to batter Hawaii back to back. The Huffington Post reports that the National Weather Service Pacific Hurricane Center (NWSCPH) is currently keeping an eye on two large storms approaching the islands of Hawaii, including Hurricane Iselle that’s expected to hit on Thursday afternoon – and tropical storm Julio, which is expected to follow suit two or three days later. Two successive storms like this have never been documented before, according to one weather expert. “In 75 years of reliable data you only have one case where [tropical storms] were even 10 days apart,” Weather Channel lead meteorologist, Kevin Roth told The Huffington Post.
Currently classified as a category 2 hurricane, Iselle is expected to remain a hurricane when it hits the island but weaken to a tropical storm as it makes its way through the chain. The storm’s center is expected to move across the Big Island on Thursday night as it moves south and affects the other islands in the chain with wind speeds ranging between 39 and 73 mph. Julio may do the opposite, as it’s expected to hit the Big Island on Tuesday as a tropical storm and then turn into a hurricane by Wednesday.
Related: Massive Supertyphoon Neoguri Hits Southern Japan
A tropical storm warning is currently in effect in the state as of Tuesday, along with flash flood watches for all the islands – with the main threats from the storm being from the heavy rains that can cause flash floods and coastal inundation. In the meantime, Hawaiians are battening down the hatches and stocking up on food and fuel in preparation for the storms’ arrival.
Via Huffington Post
Images via Flickr Creative Commons, luder5 and NOAA
