2023 Pacific Hurricane forecast: "heightened risks for Mexico and Hawaii."

[MyManao]

I’m not a proponent of Maunas vs Hurricane, with the Maunas always victorious..

And still, the Maunas win every time.

Sure, Puna, with its relatively low profile terrain, as we saw with Iselle, stands in stark contrast to the areas of the island that are on the flanks of Kea and Loa, where a hurricane can not cross without having its system torn apart. Literally a storm crossing a 14,000 foot high edifice can not help but be destroyed. How could it be otherwise when the bottom 14,000 feet of the system is no longer there?

But, from a purely technical point, there is historic evidence of a hurricane traveling up the Hamakua coast and through the Waimea saddle. But a head on path that would lead a cyclonic system through one of our larger volcanoes can not help but destroy it before it passes.

What I think more likely happens is as a storm approached, and because of the presence of our Maunas, the leading airmass is compressed and in turn causes the storm to veer one side of us or the other. Again, as it did with Iselle where it jogged a little to the south, and lost some of its strength, before making landfall.