Although Hurricane Lane has weakened to a tropical storm, it’s moisture is dumping on Hawaii — as warned. 44 inches and counting have flooded the entirety of the Big Island, and a flood warning has been issued for Maui too.
The big picture: Historically, water is a top hurricane killer. And while Hurricane Lane is virtually diminished as an organized tropical cyclone, its torrential rains are tormenting the islands.
On Friday night Elon Musk abandoned his plan take Tesla private, but the CEO and the Silicon Valley electric automaker will be dealing with aftershocks for a while.
Quick take: Axios' Steve LeVine explains that one nagging question is whether Musk was ever really serious, or whether he was impulsively trolling the shorts but then had to put on this theater because of the fallout.
Tesla's brief flirtation with a plan to go private, announced by founder Elon Musk in a tweet earlier this month, is over, at least for now. "I met with Tesla’s Board of Directors yesterday and let them know that I believe the better path is for Tesla to remain public," Musk wrote in a statement posted Friday night. "The Board indicated that they agree."
Why it matters: Tesla, which makes electric cars, is an iconic company on the road to greener transportation — and a bellwether for whether Silicon Valley's startup ideology can transform other industries. More than Musk's personal vindication hangs on its fate.
Editor's note:We have finished live updates for Friday, August 24, and our coverage will resume on Saturday. Scroll down for the most recent updates.
Hurricane Lane is drifting towards what may be Maui and Oahu's closest encounter with a significant hurricane since statehood in 1959. The storm remains a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, and is causing "catastrophic" flooding on the Big Island, where more than 30 inches of rain have already fallen.
The big picture: The storm is creeping northward at just 5 miles per hour, prolonging the wind and flooding threats for the Hawaiian Islands. And even though the storm is just 24 hours away from its closest pass with Maui and Oahu, where Honolulu could see hurricane force winds for hours on end, the exact track is still murky.
Hurricane Lane is already a landmark storm, having set a record for the strongest hurricane to get so close to Hawaii since modern records began. It could soon set more milestones if it moves within 65 nautical miles of Maui and Oahu on Friday and Saturday.
Why this matters: Hawaii has historically been protected against hurricanes because sea surface temperatures near the islands are typically too cold to support a significant tropical cyclone. That's not the case this year, and is not expected to be the case in the future as the ocean warms in response to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the air.
A new paper from Carnegie Mellon University didn't get much attention, but it tackles a huge topic: the challenge of cutting carbon emissions from the energy-hungry trucking sector.
One takeaway is that trains can play a big role, but that would require a reversal of freight industry trends worldwide that favor highways.
Editor's note: For live updates on Friday, August 24, see our current story here.
Category 3 Hurricane Lane is slowly churning northward toward Hawaii, affecting the Big Island and Maui on Thursday before lumbering toward Oahu and Kauai in coming days.
Why it matters: This storm is the most intense hurricane ever to come so close to Hawaii. The storm threatens the islands with upwards of 2 feet of rain, deadly surf of 20 feet or higher, and intense hurricane force winds.
