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.
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.
Last week, after almost a two-year trip, a NASA spacecraft captured its first look at the near-Earth asteroid Bennu from 1.4 million miles away. The image was released for the first time Friday.
The details: The asteroid sampling spacecraft, which has traveled 1.1 billion miles since launch, marks the agency's inaugural visit to a near-Earth asteroid. The goal is to "survey the surface, collect a sample and deliver it safely back to Earth," according to a NASA press release.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of planetary nebula NGC 3918, which is a part of the the Centaurus constellation about 4,900 light-years from Earth, according to NASA.
Between the lines: A planetary nebula is a cloud of colorful gasses which surrounds a dying star — known as a red giant, according to NASA. The remnants of the star give off the light, which reflects in the gasses and creates the beautiful, dramatic colors seen in the photo.
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.
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.
