Hurricane Darby enters Central Pacific as Category 2, forecast to lose steam soon

Hurricane Darby has entered the Central Pacific as a Category 2 storm. However, weather officials expect rapid weakening soon.

Located about 955 miles east of Hilo at 5 a.m, Darby was packing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and moving west-northwest at 16 mph, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.

Weather officials expect Darby to continue on its current track through Friday morning before turning west.

Although Darby is on track to pass a few hundred miles south of the main Hawaiian Islands this weekend, the storm is forecast to become a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday before dissipating by Sunday, the CPHC said.

Hurricane-fore winds extend outward up to 15 miles from Darby’s center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles.