Iselle weakens to a Tropical Storm as it makes landfall on Hawaii's Big Island

 

Iselle made landfall on Hawaii's Big Island  as a Tropical Storm at 2:30 a.m. HST. Even though it did not make landfall as a Cat. 1 Hurricane, it is only the second Tropical Storm on record to make landfall on the Big Island. The first Tropical Storm to hit the Big Island was in 1958. Therefore Iselle is still a rare, if not historical, Tropical Storm that's one for the books. In the IR image above, Iselle showed signs of weakening on its approach indicated by the dissipation of colder cloud tops. However, orographic lift has produced high cloud tops (colder than -80 C ), shown in the dark reds near the end of the animation. This has led to heavy amounts of rain on the lee side (east) of the mountains and the issue of flood warnings.

                Courtesy of Brian McNoldy, Univ. of Miami, Rosenstiel School

Above is a sped up radar animation of Iselle making landfall on the Big Island in Hawaii. The outer rain bands and a defined eyewall can be seen just before landfall.