Dangerous Hurricane Lowell passing just west of Hawaii
Hurricane Lowell was skirting western Hawaii, bringing damaging winds, heavy rain and punishing waves, the National Hurricane Center said.
Updated on: September 8, 2026 / 7:06 AM EDT / CBS News
The Category 2 hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, just shy of the 111 mph that would make it a major Category 3.
As of the latest advisory at 11 p.m. Monday night local time, Lowell was 90 miles west of Lihue, the county seat of Kauai County, which includes the islands of Kauai and Niihau, and was moving north-northeast at 18 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended outward as much as 70 miles from Lowell's center.
Lowell had the potential of pouring up to 2 feet of rain on parts of the chain as well as producing "life-threatening surf and rip current conditions" and even some tornadoes, the hurricane center said. It issued a hurricane warning for Kauai County and a tropical storm warning for the island of Oahu.
The warning extends to a large swath of the vast Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which covers almost 583,000 square miles of ocean and includes 10 of Hawaii's islands.