Hurricane Flossie Heads Toward Waters South Of Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) _ Hurricane Flossie headed toward waters south of Hawaii on Friday, but forecasters didn't believe it would hit the state with anything more than some rough surf. <br/><br/>At 5 p.m.

Friday, August 10th 2007, 11:45 am

By: News On 6

HONOLULU (AP) _ Hurricane Flossie headed toward waters south of Hawaii on Friday, but forecasters didn't believe it would hit the state with anything more than some rough surf.

At 5 p.m. EDT Friday, the Category 1 storm was about 1,300 miles southeast of Hilo and had winds of 85 mph. It was expected to strengthen slightly in the next day and a half, but then weaken as it passed over cooler waters.

``It looks like the system is going to pass well south of the Big Island and all of the other islands,'' said Bob Burke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu. ``The biggest impact may be some large rough surf.''

The Big Island's southeastern shores could see waves of 8 to 12 feet, Burke said, with the surf rising during the day Monday and peaking Tuesday. The island's South Point is the southernmost area of the United States.

Flossie formed as a tropical storm Wednesday about halfway between Mexico's southern Pacific coast and Hawaii. It strengthened to a hurricane Friday.

The last time a hurricane hit Hawaii was in 1992, when Iniki ravaged Kauai, killing six people and causing $2.5 billion in damage.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. In May, forecasters predicted that Hawaii and the rest of the central Pacific face a slightly below-average hurricane season, with just two or three tropical cyclones expected because of lower sea surface temperatures.

The islands get an average of 4.5 tropical cyclones a year and one hurricane about every 15 years. Last year, the central Pacific had five tropical cyclones after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted two to three.