Hurricane Nolo became the fourth named system to bring heavy rain, gusty winds and large waves to Hawaii this hurricane season. Its lifecycle was more interesting than the others.

Genesis

Hurricane Nolo actually has a more unique story than most tropical systems. It was actually first monitored way back on September 8 as a low area of development. The map below shows the yellow blob that would eventually become Nolo, but we have to a wait a while to see the name.

By 2 p.m. PDT on September 13, Tropical Depression Fifteen-E formed in the East Pacific. But the system didn't last long. Just two days later, the tropical depression lost its organization due to moving into higher shear. Shear, or changes in wind speed and direction as you move higher in the atmosphere, hinders tropical development, so this system fell apart and was no longer receiving advisories from the National Hurricane Center on September 15 at 8 p.m.

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This storm liked to give updates in two-day intervals because on September 17, the system began to be monitored by the NHC again. The former tropical depression regained its name on September 22 at 11 p.m. and it finally got strong enough to be named Tropical Storm Nolo on September 23 at 2 p.m. By 8 p.m. on September 24, the storm became a hurricane.

Life as a hurricane

From the beginning, Nolo had an interesting track. A ridge of high pressure was holed up north of the Hawaiian Islands. This high often steers storms to the west away from the islands. This high was no different. As the storm approached, the track pulled Nolo to the west before ever making landfall. The storm strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane south of the islands and officially crossed within 150 miles of the Big Island. The storm then stopped moving, battering the Big Island and Maui County with rounds of heavy rain and winds from the hurricane's outer bands.

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Nolo then weakened slightly back down to a Category 1 hurricane due to dry air and even some upwelling of cooler water since the storm stayed in roughly the same location long enough to pull cool water to the surface.

Recap

Rainfall totals over 14 inches have been reported at the highest elevations of the Big Island.

The Big Island and parts of Maui County were hit hard by flooding, mudslides and strong winds from Hurricane Lala in mid-August, and some places just recently got power restored. Gusts of 60-80 mph were reported across parts of Maui, Hawaii and Honolulu County. Olowalu, Maui County, saw a gust of 88 mph, while Waimano, Honolulu County, saw a gust of 80 mph.

Resurgence

But Nolo's story was about to get interesting. As the outer bands' rainfall ended on the main islands and some gusts remained, Nolo began to rapidly intensify. The storm went from a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 90 mph on September 26 at 8 p.m. to a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph just 24 hours later.

Hurricane Nolo has rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane as it moves westward into more favorable conditions. Its winds have increased 55 mph in just 24 hours.

The storm wasn't done strengthening yet. It ended up reaching sustained winds of 155 mph at 5 p.m. on September 28.

It then began to turn to the northwest then due north around the main Hawaiian islands. The hurricane began to weaken as it moved into cooler waters before taking another sharp turn west and contining to weaken.

Almost Big Island's strongest hurricane in decades

Only one other major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane has tracked within 150 miles of the Big Island, according to NOAA's hurricane database.

That was August 1959's Hurricane Dot, which went on to slam into Kauai after brushing south of the Big Island.

Nolo did get within 150 miles of the Big Island, but very close to Category 3 strength.

Fourth flood event

This system will become the fourth this hurricane season to at least graze Hawaii, bringing flooding and winds to most of the state.

We first had Hurricane Lala in mid-August, with an eyewall that grazed the southern end of the Big Island. Torrential rain hit, and gusty winds caused power outages to skyrocket.

(MORE: Lala Recap)

Next up was Tropical Storm Moke, which tracked farther south than Lala but still struck parts of the Big Island with rain and winds from its outer bands. Moke’s impacts were less significant, but flooding still occurred because the ground remained saturated from Lala.

Then there was Hurricane Lowell, a powerful hurricane that reached Category 5 strength at its peak. The storm weakened before making its closest pass, but it slammed the western islands with wind, rain and waves.

(MORE: Lowell Recap)

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