Hurricane, tropical storm in East Pacific pose no threat to Hawaii

Newly formed Hurricane Frank rapidly gained force over the open eastern Pacific Ocean today, but it was far from land and poses no threat to Hawaii.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Frank reached hurricane force late Friday and grew to have maximum sustained winds of 90 mph by early today.

It was centered about 600 miles southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and was heading to the northwest at 12 mph.

Forecasters said Frank could reach major hurricane force, but was likely thereafter to quickly weaken over cooler waters.

Tropical Storm Georgette was further out to sea, with maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph. Forecasters said it was expected to gradually weaken over the coming days, and also poses no threat to land.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu, meanwhile, said today that strengthening tradewinds will bring drier weather to Hawaii this weekend with high temperatures in the upper 80s and overnight lows in the mid 70s.

Tradewinds will gradually weaken in the first half of next week, bringing passing showers, forecasters said.