Hurricane Nolo nears Hawaii Island; nor'easter warnings from Virginia to Massachusetts

THE EMN DAILY NEWS BRIEF | Friday, 25 September 2026

Nolo became a hurricane Thursday night and is closing on Hawaii Island with 80-mile-per-hour winds, a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch for Hawaii County, a tropical storm watch for Maui County, and forecast rainfall of 15 to 30 inches on the eastern and southern Big Island. Hawaii County opens five more shelters this morning, and state and county offices, public schools and University of Hawaii facilities on the island are closed today. High wind warnings took effect at 8 a.m. for coastal Massachusetts and most of Rhode Island as the nor’easter strengthens, with coastal flood warnings up in southeastern Virginia. The national preparedness level holds at 2 with 74 incidents and 6,824 personnel, down 520, and Northern California now reports no uncontained large fires. Correction: Thursday’s issue reported year-to-date acreage revised down to 8,096,338; today’s report puts it at 8,559,888, or 145 percent of average, so that drop was a reporting lag rather than a revision. The EMN NEWS Daily Brief is your concise daily update on national and state-by-state emergency management news.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hurricane Nolo: The Central Pacific Hurricane Center put Nolo at 80 miles per hour at 11 p.m. Thursday, centered 240 miles south of South Point and moving north-northeast at 5 miles per hour. Hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles from the center. Forecasters expect rapid intensification to a major hurricane Saturday, with a sharp turn west near the Big Island. Tropical storm conditions begin late Friday in the warning area, with hurricane conditions possible early Saturday.

Hawaii operations: Hawaii County is opening five additional shelters this morning. Governor Josh Green closed state and county offices, Department of Education schools and University of Hawaii campuses on Hawaii Island Thursday and Friday. This is the state’s fourth tropical system of the season, after Lala in August and Lowell earlier this month, and Green put combined damage and planned resilience costs from the run of disasters above $1 billion.

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Nor’easter: The Boston forecast office issued high win