The U.S. Navy is moving its ships based in Pearl Harbor out to sea to limit the risk of significant damage to ships and piers in preparation of Hurricane Lane.
The details: According to the Defense Department, the 29 surface ships and submarines stationed at Naval Station Pearl Harbor "will remain at sea until the threat from the storm subsides and Hawaii-based Navy aircraft will be secured in hangars or flown to other airfields to avoid the effects of the hurricane." The ships will be repositioned in Hawaii following the storm.
Hurricane Lane, an intense Category 4 storm, is poised to move perilously close to the Hawaiian islands later this week, according to updated forecasts on Tuesday morning. Hurricane watches, meaning that hurricane conditions could hit within 48 hours, are in effect for Hawaii and Maui counties.
The big picture: Hurricanes typically steer clear of or weaken before reaching Hawaii, due largely to cooler ocean temperatures closer to the islands. However, right now, the waters are warm enough — about 0.5°C, or 0.9°F, above average for this time of year — to support a hurricane. There is even a possibility that a weakened Lane could be the first hurricane to make landfall in Honolulu since the Hawaii's statehood.
The summer of 2018 has been noteworthy for the all-time heat records smashed around the world, from California to Sweden and Japan.
Why it matters: The heat is a sign of a warming world, scientists have said, with human-caused global warming raising the odds of heat waves as well as increasing their severity and duration.
