Thanks to John Bravender, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, from the National Weather Service for an informative and insightful presentation of the 2025 Central Pacific Hurricane Season Forecast. The full presentation will also be posted on the Be Ready Manoa website. Individuals who signed up for the in-person option were able to tour the National Weather Service facility located at the University of Hawaii. A big MAHALO to our partners at the National Weather Service for hosting these kinds of educational sessions and – more importantly – doing the important work of monitoring our weather.

HNL Alert launched last week as the City and County of Honolulu’s new official notification system. HNL Alert is a free service that any resident or visitor can sign up for to receive alerts about potential and occurring emergency situations and other community updates such as road closures and impacts to City services. Users can select the types of events they want to be notified about and whether they want to receive alerts by text, email or push alert via an app. Current options include:  

• Severe weather
• Emergency and disaster alerts
• Road closures
• Ocean safety conditions
• Board of Water Supply system notifications such as water main breaks in your area
• Ocean water quality notifications such as brown water advisories

HOW TO SIGN UP

There are two ways to sign up for HNL Alerts.

Option 1 (Recommended) – Customized Alerts: Create an account at HNLAlert.gov and customize what alerts you get and how you get them.

• Pick what you want to alerted about and how you want to receive messages.
• Enter home, work, or school addresses to get alerts targeted to certain areas of the island.
• Log in any time to change your preferences or update contact information.
• There is a link to a free app called Public Safety by Everbridge on the HNLAlert.gov page. Search for ‘honolulu’ after downloading the app to add the City. You can create or access your account from the app to get push alerts.

Option 2 – Urgent Alerts Only: Text HNLAlert to 888777. You will be automatically registered to receive only the most urgent notifications via text.

HELP ALERT OTHERS ABOUT HNL ALERT

HNL Alert will only be successful in keeping people safe if as many residents as possible are registered. Please spread the word to your family, neighbors, and friends.

As noted in the post below, hurricane season in Hawaii starts June 1.  The following is some excellent information on hurricanes from The National Preparedness Community:

What is a Hurricane?

History teaches that a lack of hurricane awareness and preparation are common threads among all major hurricane disasters. By knowing your vulnerability and what actions you should take, you can reduce the effects of a hurricane disaster.

Hurricane hazards come in many forms, including storm surge, heavy rainfall, inland flooding, high winds, tornadoes, and rip currents. Gaining a better understanding of tropical cyclones and hurricane hazards will help to make a more informed decision on your risk and what actions to take.

Today we’re talking about high wind and inland flooding two incredibly deadly and destructive elements of hurricanes. Read, watch and share!

Inland Flooding: The Deadliest Element

When these powerful storms move over land, they lose wind strength but continue to dump massive amounts of rain into streams, rivers and lakes, posing a serious threat of inland flooding. These floods account for more than 50 percent of hurricane-related deaths each year.

Watch this short and shareable video of National Hurricane Center (NHC) Hurricane Specialist John Cangialosi discussing the deadly danger of inland flooding caused by tropical cyclones and hurricanes.

 

Wind Scales: Judging Hurricane Intensity

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane’s sustained wind speed. This scale estimates potential property damage. Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage. Category 1 and 2 storms are still dangerous, however, and require preventative measures. In the western North Pacific, the term “super typhoon” is used for tropical cyclones with sustained winds exceeding 150 mph.

 

The Makings of A Hurricane: Storm Surges & Storm Tides

Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides. Storm surge should not be confused with storm tide, which is defined as the water level rise due to the combination of storm surge and the astronomical tide. This rise in water level can cause extreme flooding in coastal areas particularly when storm surge coincides with normal high tide, resulting in storm tides reaching up to 20 feet or more in some cases.

Click on picture for more information on storm surge

Click on picture for more information on storm surge