Dear Tom,
I was surprised to hear of the recent hurricane near Hawaii. Isn’t that rare? I thought that part of the Pacific got typhoons.
Bruce Christensen, La Grange
Dear Bruce,
The tropical cyclones that affect Hawaii are called hurricanes. By international convention, tropical cyclones are not classified as typhoons unless they move or develop west of the 180th meridian, better known as the International Date Line. Though hurricanes are not frequent visitors to Hawaii, they occasionally occur there. Back in 2003 Hurricane Jimena passed within 120 miles of the Big Island’s South Point bringing 50 m.p.h. winds, 15-foot waves, heavy rain and extensive flooding. Though many tropical storms and hurricanes skirt the Hawaiian Islands, they seldom make a direct hit. However, two storms in particular–Dot in 1959 and Iniki in 1992–brought widespread devastation.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
