Tropical Storm Pena moves away from Hawaii

Tropical Storm Pena continued moving west away from Hawaii today and is expected to cross the International Date Line late this week.

As of 5 a.m., Pena was about 835 miles southwest of Honolulu with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph — unchanged from Monday — and was moving west at about 12 mph, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles from Pena’s center, up from 105 miles Monday.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu said moderate to locally breezy tradewinds today will strengthen tonight, with locally strong winds Wednesday and Thursday as a new high-pressure system builds north of the state.

Forecasters said they have increased confidence in the stronger winds and that advisory-level winds are possible beginning tonight. Several computer models suggest areas such as the Kohala mountains on the Big Island could see warning-level winds Wednesday. Winds are expected to be strongest through gaps in the mountains and over and downslope of ridges, particularly over Maui and the Big Island.

The state forecast calls for northeast winds of 15 to 30 mph Wednesday, Veterans Day, on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Lanai.

Showers should stay mostly in windward and mauka areas, with more windward showers expected late in the week as a band of moisture moves south across the state, forecasters said. They also said fire weather conditions will remain near critical levels over the next several days, mainly because of the stronger winds tonight through Thursday, with humidity expected to drop near threshold values today and Wednesday.

A small craft advisory will expand to cover all Hawaiian coastal waters beginning 6 p.m. today and was extended until 6 a.m. Thursday. Seas are forecast to exceed 10 feet beginning Wednesday, the NWS said.

Forecasters said surf on north- and west-facing shores will drop to small levels today, then a much larger northwest swell, generated by a gale-force storm near Kamchatka, may bring warning-level surf to exposed north- and west-facing shores Wednesday, building through the day and peaking Wednesday night.

Surf should drop to advisory level Thursday and fall below it by Friday, and another northwest swell this weekend could push surf back to advisory levels. Surf on east-facing shores is expected to rise and stay choppy through Friday as tradewinds strengthen.