Flossie weakens to tropical depression on Hawaii approach

Yee Kai Pin and Matthew Brown in Bloomberg: Flossie weakened to a depression as it neared the Hawaiian Islands, while tropical-storm warnings were discontinued.

The system, with top winds of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour, was 65 miles north-northwest of Honolulu and 270 miles northwest of Hilo at about 11 p.m. local time yesterday, according to an advisory from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. It was moving west-northwest at 18 mph.

Flossie had threatened to become the first major system to strike Hawaii in 21 years. The state hasn’t been hit by a tropical storm or hurricane since Hurricane Iniki in 1992, said Kristina Pydynowski, a meteorologist at AccuWeather.com, a forecaster in State College, Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Coast Guard re-opened the ports of Hilo and Kawaihae on the Big Island at 1 p.m. yesterday, while keeping the port of Kahului, Maui closed, it said in a statement on its website yesterday...

Tropical Storm Flossie over Hawaii on July 29, 2013, shot by those storm-tossed mad folk at NASA