Hurricane Kiko heads toward Hawaii as Lorena remnants linger near western Mexico

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MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Kiko was on a path toward Hawaii over the next several days as post-tropical cyclone Lorena soaked Mexico’s Baja California peninsula with heavy rain, forecasters said Friday.

Kiko was a Category 3 hurricane, but far enough away from the Hawaiian Islands that the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was too early to tell the exact location and severity of impacts expected to reach the 50th U.S. state around the middle part of next week.

The center of Kiko was about 1,245 miles (2,000 kilometers) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, according to a Friday morning advisory. Top winds were sustained at 115 mph (185 kph), and forecasters said Kiko was traveling west-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph).

Kiko’s strength would fluctuate over the next two days, forecasters said, before weakening by early next week.

No watches or warnings were in effect, but people in Hawaii were advised to monitor the hurricane’s progress. Forecasters said swells from Kiko could begin reaching parts of Hawaii by the end of the weekend.

The hurricane center issued its final public advisory for post-tropical cyclone Lorena early Friday. At the time, the system had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph) and was stationary about 170 miles (274 kilometers) west of Cabo San Lazaro, Mexico.

Lorena was expected to weaken further and dissipate on Sunday, the weather agency said, but it could still bring isolated rainfall amounts up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) to parts of the Mexican states of Baja California Sur, Baja California, Sonora and Sinaloa. The risk of flash flooding and mudslides in those regions was expected to remain through Friday night.

In Arizona and New Mexico, heavy rainfall of up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) was still possible and could lead to isolated flash flooding into Saturday, the weather agency said.