Hawaii

Every populated island in Hawaii is now under a tropical warning or watch, and the hurricane center expects Lala to be a hurricane by the time it reaches the Big Island on Saturday

Money & World

The Editorial Team · August 14, 2026

A heavy, dark grey storm cloud layer filling almost the whole frame, its underside broken into rolling lobes, with a paler band of light and a shaft of falling rain along the lower right. Across the very bottom edge runs a thin dark silhouette of grass heads with one small tree at the right. No coastline, buildings, vehicles, people, signage or text are visible, and this is not a photograph of Lala or of any Hawaiian island. — Stock photo. Not the actual scene. *Photo: Vladimir Srajber / Pexels*

What it changes

The practical change this morning is that the alert now covers everyone, not just the Big Island. Until 5 a.m. Hawaii time the warning was a Hawaii County matter with a watch alongside it for Maui County. The advisory issued at that hour upgraded Maui County to a tropical storm warning, which means tropical storm conditions are expected there rather than merely possible, and issued a fresh tropical storm watch for Oahu and for Kauai County. Add the hurricane warning already standing over Hawaii County and every populated island in the state is now inside an alert of some kind. If you are in Hawaii County the operative word is warning, and the hurricane center attaches a specific instruction to that word: preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion. A warning is normally issued around 36 hours before the first tropical-storm-force winds arrive, and those winds are what end the window rather than the eye. The centre is still 420 miles east southeast of Hilo and the storm is still a 60 mph tropical storm, but tropical-storm-force winds already reach up to 205 miles north of the centre, so the distance on the map overstates the time you have. Conditions are expected on the Big Island on Saturday, in Maui County Saturday night, and possibly on Oahu and Kauai on Sunday. Read the rainfall line before the wind line. The advisory forecasts 8 to 12 inches across Maui and the Big Island with as much as 25 inches possible on the Big Island, and 2 to 4 inches with up to 8 inches elsewhere in the chain, and it says in terms that this may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially where the terrain is steep. Hawaii's terrain is steep almost everywhere, and on the record of tropical systems generally it is fresh water rather than wind that does the killing and the bulk of the property damage. Storm surge is forecast at 1 to 3 feet above normally dry ground on Hawaii, and swells are already on their way to east-facing shores today, building through the weekend, with life-threatening surf and rip currents. That surf part matters today, before anything else arrives, and it is the hazard most likely to catch someone who has decided the storm is still two days out. There is a forecast distinction worth holding on to, because it will be blurred everywhere else you read about this. Lala is a tropical storm right now, and the hurricane center expects it to become a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island. It does not forecast a landfall. Its own language is that the core passes near the Big Island on Saturday and then south of the smaller islands on Sunday, and a core that passes near an island is not the same event as a centre that crosses the coast. The difference decides which side of the storm each island gets and how much rain sits over the high ground, and it is exactly the kind of detail that shifts between advisories. The next intermediate advisory was due at 8 a.m. Hawaii time and the next complete one at 11 a.m., so the picture in this item has a short shelf life by design. On the money, this site is going to say less than you might expect, and deliberately. No cost figure, insured loss estimate, tourism or shipping impact, or disaster declaration has been read for this item, so none is quoted here, and a number invented at this stage would be worth nothing to anybody. What can be said is structural and it is why a Hawaii storm is a national economic story rather than a regional weather one. Hawaii imports the overwhelming majority of what it consumes across a very long ocean supply line into a small number of harbours, and its visitor economy runs on scheduled air service into a small number of airports. Both of those are chokepoint systems, and chokepoint systems do not degrade gently. If you hold a booking into any Hawaiian island this weekend, the useful move today is to check directly with the carrier and the property rather than to wait for a cancellation notice, because change fees and rebooking rules tend to be waived once a carrier issues a travel advisory and the waiver windows are usually narrow and dated. If you own property there, the thing that is time-sensitive today rather than after the storm is documentation: photographs of the building and its contents, and a copy of the policy declarations page stored somewhere that does not depend on local power or local internet. Hurricane deductibles in Hawaii are typically a percentage of the insured value rather than a flat figure, and flood is a separate policy from wind almost everywhere in the United States, which is the distinction that decides most disputed claims after a rainfall event of the size this advisory describes. None of that is a forecast about Lala. It is what is worth doing in the hours while the answer is still unknown.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center expanded its alerts across the Hawaiian islands on Friday morning, putting every populated island in the state under a tropical storm watch, a tropical storm warning, or a hurricane warning.

Advisory Number 9 was transmitted at 14:43 UTC and carries a valid time of 5 a.m. Hawaii standard time on Friday, August 14. Its headline reads: "New watches and warning issued for the Hawaiian islands." It is signed by forecasters Cangialosi and Pierce.

Two changes came with this advisory. The tropical storm watch for Maui County was upgraded to a tropical storm warning. A new tropical storm watch was issued for Oahu and for Kauai County.

That leaves the following in effect. A hurricane warning covers Hawaii County. A tropical storm warning covers Maui County, including the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe. A tropical storm watch covers Oahu, and Kauai County, including the islands of Kauai and Niihau.

Lala is still a tropical storm. At the advisory's valid time its centre was near latitude 16.7 north, longitude 149.5 west, about 420 miles east southeast of Hilo and about 635 miles east southeast of Honolulu. Maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph. It is moving west northwest at 12 mph and the minimum central pressure is 997 millibars.

The hurricane center forecasts steady strengthening and expects Lala to become a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island. The advisory does not forecast a landfall. Its wording is that the general motion is expected to continue, taking the core of Lala near the Big Island on Saturday and then south of the smaller islands on Sunday.

Tropical-storm-force winds already extend up to 205 miles north of the centre, so the leading edge of the wind field is considerably closer than the centre position suggests. Hurricane conditions are expected on the Big Island on Saturday, with tropical storm conditions expected in Maui County on Saturday night and possible on Oahu and Kauai on Sunday.

The rainfall forecast is the heaviest part of the advisory. It calls for 8 to 12 inches across Maui and the Big Island, with maximum totals of 25 inches possible across the Big Island, and 2 to 4 inches with maximum amounts of 8 inches across the rest of the chain. The advisory states that this rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain.

Storm surge of 1 to 3 feet above normally dry ground is forecast for Hawaii. Swells generated by Lala reach the east-facing shores of the state on Friday and build westward through the weekend, and the advisory says these are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Interests in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument are advised to monitor the storm.

The figures here were read from the hurricane center's own advisory text and reconciled against its machine-readable active storms file, which carries Lala as CP012026 at 50 knots and 997 millibars in the same position, at the same heading and speed, against the same advisory number.

A next intermediate advisory was scheduled for 8 a.m. Hawaii time and a next complete advisory for 11 a.m.

No cost estimate, insured loss figure, or disaster declaration is reported in this item, because none was read for it.

The document: Central Pacific Hurricane Center, Tropical Storm Lala Advisory Number 9, CP012026, 500 AM HST Fri Aug 14 2026.

Every populated island in Hawaii is now under a tropical warning or watch, and the hurricane center expects Lala to be a hurricane by the time it reaches the Big Island on Saturday

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