Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
A big storm called Hurricane Nolo is near Hawaii. It is a Category 2 hurricane, which means its winds are very strong.
Nolo is moving very slowly. It has stayed almost in the same place for two days, south of the Big Island.
The storm is bringing a lot of rain. Some places could get up to 35 inches of rain. That much rain can cause bad flooding.
Schools and government offices closed. People went to shelters to stay safe from the wind and the rain.
- hurricane
- a very large, powerful storm with strong winds and heavy rain
- stall
- to stop moving or to slow down a lot
- Category 2
- a hurricane strength level based on how strong the wind is
- flooding
- when water covers land that is usually dry
- shelter
- a safe building where people go during a storm
- forecaster
- a person whose job is to predict the weather
- warning
- a message that tells people about danger
- island
- land that has water all around it
Level 2 — Elementary
Hurricane Nolo, a Category 2 storm with winds near 105 miles per hour, has been stalling just south of Hawaii's Big Island since Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Forecasters say the storm's slow, zig zagging path is unusual, and it could actually grow stronger and become a major hurricane before it finally pulls away from the islands early next week.
The biggest danger is rain, not wind. Parts of the Big Island could see up to 35 inches of rain, with forecasters warning of catastrophic and life threatening flash flooding in the steepest terrain. Neighboring Maui is under a tropical storm watch and could get up to 10 inches.
Hawaii and Maui counties opened shelters, and schools and government offices began closing on Thursday to prepare. Large swells from the storm are also creating dangerous surf and rip currents along east and south facing shores.
- stall
- to stop making progress or to slow down almost completely
- zig zag
- a path that moves back and forth instead of going straight
- major hurricane
- a hurricane that is Category 3 or stronger
- terrain
- the physical features of an area of land
- watch
- an official notice that dangerous weather is possible
- swell
- a large, slow moving wave in the ocean
- rip current
- a strong, narrow current that pulls swimmers away from shore
- evacuate
- to leave a place because it has become dangerous
Level 3 — Intermediate
Hurricane Nolo has confounded typical seasonal patterns by stalling roughly 145 miles south of Hawaii's Big Island since late last week, a meandering behavior that the National Hurricane Center says has allowed the storm to draw energy from warm ocean water for far longer than a fast moving system typically would.
Although Nolo briefly weakened to a Category 1 storm on Saturday as it began to drift away, meteorologists warned it could restrengthen into a major hurricane, Category 3 or above, by early Monday before finally curving northeast and clearing the islands.
Rainfall, rather than wind, has emerged as the storm's most severe threat. Forecasters cautioned that parts of the Big Island's windward slopes could receive as much as 35 inches of rain, a total capable of triggering catastrophic and life threatening flash flooding and landslides in the island's steepest terrain, while Maui, Oahu and Kauai face lesser but still significant totals under a tropical storm watch.
Local officials opened emergency shelters for residents and pets and closed schools and government offices beginning Thursday, while hazardous surf and rip currents generated by the storm's swells have already begun battering east and south facing coastlines, a reminder that a hurricane's most dangerous effects often extend far beyond the reach of its most intense winds.
- confound
- to surprise or confuse because something does not act as expected
- meander
- to follow a winding, indirect path rather than a straight one
- restrengthen
- to become powerful again after weakening
- windward
- facing the direction from which the wind is blowing
- landslide
- a sudden fall of rock, earth or debris down a slope
- hazardous
- dangerous or risky
- battering
- hitting something repeatedly and with force
- intense
- existing in an extreme degree; very strong
Level 4 — Advanced
Hurricane Nolo's protracted loitering south of Hawaii's Big Island has upended the usual arithmetic of tropical cyclone forecasting, in which storms are expected to traverse a region and depart within a day or two; instead, Nolo has occupied roughly the same patch of ocean for the better part of a week, a stalling pattern that has allowed it to continually replenish itself on unusually warm sea surface temperatures rather than exhausting them and weakening as it moves on.
That persistence has produced a counterintuitive forecast: after briefly easing to Category 1 strength on Saturday, the storm is projected by the National Hurricane Center to restrengthen into a major hurricane, Category 3 or higher, by early Monday, even as it finally begins a northeastward turn that should carry it away from the islands within days.
For residents, the more consequential statistic has never been wind speed but rainfall totals; forecasters have cautioned that windward slopes of the Big Island could see as much as 35 inches of rain, an amount sufficient to trigger what officials describe, without exaggeration, as catastrophic and life threatening flash flooding and landslides across the island's steepest terrain, while Maui, Oahu and Kauai brace for lesser, though still disruptive, totals under an active tropical storm watch.
Local authorities' preemptive response, opening shelters and shuttering schools and government offices days before the worst conditions arrived, reflects a broader shift in disaster preparedness toward acting on forecast uncertainty rather than waiting for confirmation, even as the storm's outer swells have already begun to batter east and south facing shorelines with hazardous surf and rip currents, underscoring how a hurricane's destructive reach routinely outstrips the radius of its most intense winds.
- protracted
- lasting for a long time or longer than expected
- loitering
- staying in one place without moving forward
- replenish
- to fill something up again after it has been used or depleted
- counterintuitive
- contrary to what one would intuitively expect
- preemptive
- done in advance to prevent something anticipated
- shutter
- to close down a building or operation, often temporarily
- outstrip
- to go beyond or exceed something in extent or degree
- radius
- the area or distance around a fixed point
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