Hawaii has declared a state of emergency for tropical storm-force winds, heavy rain and high surf as the weakening Hurricane Kiko heads for the archipelago.
Kiko began as a depression in the eastern Pacific basin on 31 August, before travelling westward last week and deepening into a category 1 hurricane by Tuesday 2 September as sustained winds exceeded 74mph (119km/h).
The storm continued to strengthen, fluctuating between category 3 and 4 status through the week, with a peak sustained wind speed of 145mph on Thursday. The state of emergency was issued on Friday morning.
Kiko began to downgrade over the weekend, and most forecast models indicate it is likely to weaken to a category 1 hurricane or tropical storm status by Tuesday this week while passing to the north of Hawaii.
Projections also indicate that the remnants of the storm will continue to propagate north-westwards, travelling near parallel to the north of the archipelago before clearing the islands by Friday.
Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms have been forecast across eastern Spain and the Balearic islands on Monday and Tuesday. The national weather agency, Aemet, has issued a series of yellow and amber warnings – the first round of which begin at midday on Monday across parts of Catalonia, Aragon and Valencia.
Aemet said there could be bursts of hail, powerful gusts and hourly rainfall totals of 40mm with intense downpours. Over a 12-hour period, some areas north of Valencia may experience up to 80mm of precipitation.
The second round of warnings are in place on Tuesday, with similar amber warnings across the Balearic islands. These predict hourly rainfall totals of up to 50mm across the archipelago, and up to 140mm of rainfall could accumulate within 12 hours in Mallorca, with the greatest risk in the northern half of the island.
The storms are expected to become less potent overnight before clearing into the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday morning.
