Hurricane Felicia Weakens To Tropical Storm

by Yuliya Talmazan | August 9, 2009 at 07:43 pm

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Hurricane Felicia that peaked as a Category 4 hurricane in the Pacific Ocean last week lost strength and turned into a tropical storm before its scheduled landfall near Hawaii on Sunday. As a precautionary measure, some beaches on Hawaii's Big Island were closed Sunday afternoon with high waves expected. Heavy rains and high winds are also expected with the landfall.

Felicia peaked Thursday as a Category 4 storm with winds topping 140 mph.

It entered the central Pacific on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

Felicia is forecast to be "near the western end of the Hawaiian Island chain Monday night into Wednesday," the CPHC said.

By tomorrow, the weather service said, Felicia has a 60 percent probability of being a tropical storm and a 25 percent probability of being downgraded to a depression.