Hurricane warning issued for westernmost Hawaiian islands

A hurricane warning was issued Monday for the westernmost Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Niihau as Category 3 Hurricane Lowell approached the US Pacific island chain, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The core of Lowell was expected to pass just west of Niihau on Monday night or early Tuesday, the center said in its latest bulletin released at 8 am Hawaii time (1800GMT).

"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the NHC said.

The center warned that the combination of a storm surge and tide could flood normally dry areas near the coast in Kauai and Niihau, and a flash flood warning was issued for Kauai on Monday.

A tropical storm warning was also issued for the island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located.

The storm was expected to dump 6-10 inches of rain on Kauai, with 4-8 inches of rain forecast for Oahu and the Big Island.

The storm was about 355 miles (570 km) southwest of Honolulu and moving in north-northeasterly direction, the center said.

Lowell, which was packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kph), was expected to gradually weaken on Tuesday and then turn toward the northwest early Wednesday after passing the Hawaiian islands.

The storm briefly reached Category 5 strength earlier this week, but has since weakened to a Category 3.

Hawaii is still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Lala, which grazed the southern part of the Big Island last month, bringing destructive winds and flash floods.

Lowell is one of two storms in the Pacific Ocean right now, where a near-record strength El Nino climate episode warms the waters. Tropical Storm Marie, about 700 miles southwest of San Diego, was moving west away from land.

El Nino is the warming phase of a natural cycle in the tropical Pacific known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). It comes along every two to seven years.

ENSO promotes hurricane formation in the tropical Pacific while decreasing their likelihood in the Atlantic.

Climate change increases El Nino's global weather impacts.