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Hurricane Nolo stays, the third hurricane to near the islands in weeks
September 28, 2026
Hurricane Nolo, a Category 4 storm, stays south of Hawaii with no deaths or major damage reported, while Hilo's mayor says residents have storm fatigue.
Hawaii has faced Hurricanes Lala, Lowell and Nolo in recent weeks as the eastern and central Pacific has produced at least 19 named storms during an unusually active season.
Key facts
- Speaking Sunday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center in Miami put Polo's top sustained winds at 125 mph, keeping it a dangerous Category 3 hurricane.
- Heading north-northwest at 12 mph, Polo sat about 285 miles from Cabo San Lucas, to its west-southwest, with the city lying at the bottom of the peninsula, the hurricane center said.
- Rachel was about 300 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico, and its strongest sustained winds reached 40mph, it added.
- Hawaii, usually a calm state, has taken hits from several hurricanes, among them Lala, Lowell and now Nolo, while at least 19 named storms have formed in the eastern and central Pacific.
- Nolo reached Category 4 strength on Sunday afternoon and was expected to grow stronger, though its center was projected to track to the south and southwest of Hawaii.
AP News reports that Hurricane Nolo, the third hurricane to near Hawaii in recent weeks, was a Category 4 storm Sunday afternoon, with its center forecast to pass south and southwest of the islands. NBC News carries the same account. Both say officials report a few rescues and neither deaths nor major damage from Nolo, and none of the three hurricanes, Lala, Lowell and Nolo, has come ashore in Hawaii.
On the Big Island the strain shows. “So there’s storm fatigue and there’s some PTSD,” said Mayor Kimo Alameda, according to NBC News. He points to Hurricane Lala last month, which killed two people and damaged more than 200 homes even though it never came ashore. “We did take some hits in some parts of the island,” said Alameda. AP News and NBC News both report that Gov. Josh Green issued three disaster proclamations tied to separate storms in September alone. Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service, describes an unusually active Pacific season running above average, and The Guardian carries the same link to El Niño years.
The one point where the accounts part is the National Guard. One account says that after Green's emergency proclamation, the island called up more than 120 members for Nolo, out of roughly 400 statewide, and another gives figures that do not line up with it. In Mexico, AP News, NBC News and The Guardian report that the Mexican navy staged personnel and humanitarian aid in Guaymas and Mazatlán as Hurricane Polo headed for the Baja Peninsula, its winds peaking at 125 mph at Category 3 strength. Tropical Storm Rachel also formed off Mexico's southwest coast Sunday. Nolo's path, the absence of deaths and the mayor's words are reported across outlets, while the Guard figures remain contested.
Mayor Kimo Alameda said, “So there’s storm fatigue and there’s some PTSD.”
Kimo Alameda
Still developing
The open point is the National Guard members activated on the island for Nolo, where the figures do not line up between the accounts.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- AP News — ‘Storm fatigue’: Hawaiians reeling from back-to-back hurricanes as Nolo’s threats diminish
- The Guardian — Hurricane Nolo still threatens Hawaii as Mexico’s Baja braces for Hurricane Polo
Toggle read the full reports of all 5 outlets counted on this event.