HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Soon fans will be filing into the stands at the Clarence TC Ching Athletics Complex as the University of Hawaii football team opens the season against Delaware State.

For those fans in attendance, there is a lot in store as far as what goes on during and before the game and UH officials are encouraging the public to come out and support the ‘Bows.

“Timmy’s telling me our talent level is up and we’ve put a lot of emphasis on trying to get people in the stadium and enhancing their experience here,” UH Athletics Director Craig Angelos told Hawaii News Now. “We hired an outbound ticket sales staff this off season and so we’re hoping to have a great crowd.”

Returning this season is the “Kickoff at the Les” concert series with Nesian 9 leading off the year. There will also be multiple food and drink venders in the stadium open two hours prior to kick.

“If you’re at a football game, you’re going to have fun at University of Hawaii football, It’s simple as that,” UH director of marketing and fan experience Eric Mathews said. “You have over 25 different choices of food trucks and different things to choose from, to enjoy the game, you have the perfect vision of the game because there’s not a bad seat in this place.”

Along with the venders, roaming drink hawkers will be in the stands during the game, but a big question among the UH faithful remains, what about tailgating?

“We’ve been working hard as a group athletics with upper campus to make this happen, the plan right now is we’re going to do our pregame Kickoff at the Les for the first four games,” Mathews said. “For homecoming, we’re going to move everything up to upper campus in the legacy path for homecoming, we’ll have a party up there , the last game of the season against New Mexico senior night, November 30th, we’ll have that up there, but we’re going to try to add tailgating.”

Until then, there’s a ton for ‘Bows fans to soak in on gamedays.

“I promise you you’re not going to walk away from a game going, I didn’t have fun,” Mathews said. “You will look at your friends, you will look at your kids, you will look at your family and go that was fun.”

Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. Hawaii time with the game available on Spectrum pay-per-view and Hawaiian Telcom.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

CNN
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The Atlantic hurricane season might be quiet for now, but the same can’t be said in the Pacific, where Tropical Storm Hone is threatening to deliver a weekend blow to Hawaii.

A tropical storm watch has been raised for Hawaii’s Big Island with the storm on track to pass close to the state this weekend. It will deliver heavy rain, strong winds, dangerous seas and fire concerns to a tinder-dry state still recovering from one of the most devastating fires in US history.

Tropical activity has been abundant in the Pacific Ocean this year, but none of the seven East Pacific named storms have come close to Hawaii. Hone, the first storm to form in the Central Pacific since 2019, will break that mold.

The storm is forecast to pass about 150 miles south of the Big Island late Saturday into Sunday morning.

Rain and wind will persist for much of the weekend after Hone’s outer rainbands begin to impact the Big Island in the earliest hours of Saturday morning.

Widespread rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches are possible on the east and southeast facing slopes of the Big Island, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Maui could see around 6 inches and Oahu could pick up 2 to 4 inches of rain into early next week, especially on the eastern sides of the island. Heavy rain could cause flash flooding and area waterways to swell.

In addition to potentially flooding rainfall, Hone will also deliver gusty winds this weekend, especially over the Big Island.

“Winds are expected to be strongest where they blow downslope from higher terrain, over headlands and through passes,” the CPHC warned Friday.

The storm’s strongest winds will likely last from late Saturday through Sunday as it makes its closest pass south of the Big Island. Tropical storm-force wind gusts – up to 73 mph – are possible.

Breezy conditions will pick up late Friday night and early Saturday over the island chain ahead of Hone’s worst conditions. This will raise fire danger over parts of the state where winds get stronger without rain to accompany them.

“Drier air and windy conditions ahead of Hone could elevate fire weather concerns across leeward areas statewide (Saturday),” the National Weather Service in Honolulu cautioned Friday.

Leeward areas generally include the western and southern coasts of each island in Hawaii’s chain.

The increased fire danger is particularly concerning given drought conditions in the state are worse this year than they were at the time of last year’s devastating wildfires. Wildfires in Maui last August left more than 100 people dead and caused $6 billion in damage.

Given Hone’s rain, fire weather conditions don’t appear to be as severe as those during last year’s fires, but if dry fuels like grasses and trees catch fire, they‘ll quickly go up in flames. Strong winds could fan those flames and rapidly spread fire to nearby locations.

Around the time of last year’s fires, about 15% of the state was experiencing at least moderate drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. As of August 20, moderate drought or worse conditions covered 73% of Hawaii.

Hone will strengthen late Sunday into Monday and could become a hurricane briefly. At this point, the system will likely be centered 300 to 400 miles southwest of Hawaii’s islands.

After Hone moves away early next week, it may not be the only system Hawaii contends with over the next couple of weeks.

Gilma, which was a Category 3 hurricane as of Friday morning as it roared over the open Pacific, will track west over the weekend and through much of next week. The system will weaken as it approaches Hawaii, but whatever remains of it could take a swipe at the state late next week.

Interests in and around Hawaii may need to continue to monitor for tropical trouble even into early September.

HONOLULU (AP) — A tropical storm is expected to deliver strong winds and heavy rain to Hawaii this weekend, particularly to the Big Island and Maui, as it passes south of the island chain.

The August storm has evoked memories of the powerful hurricane south of Hawaii that helped fuel a deadly wildfire that destroyed Maui’s Lahaina town last summer, but the National Weather Service said Thursday that Tropical Storm Hone was not creating the same conditions.

Separately, to Hone’s east, Hurricane Gilma was moving west across the Pacific, but it was too early to tell whether it would affect the islands.

Hone, which means “sweet and soft” in Hawaiian and is pronounced hoe-NEH, was expected to bring sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph (32-48 kph) and gusts of 50 mph (80 mph) to Maui and the Big Island. Oahu and Kauai were forecast to get slightly weaker winds.

The Big Island’s east coast and southeastern corner were expected to get 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain Saturday night through Sunday night. Maui could get 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of rain.

These predictions could change depending on the storm’s course. Late Thursday, the storm was about 815 miles (1,310 kilometers) east-southeast of Hilo. It was moving west at 16 mph (26 kph.)

The Aug. 8, 2023, Lahaina fire was fueled by powerful winds whipped up by a combination of a hurricane passing some 500 miles (800 kilometers) to the south and a very strong high pressure system to the north of the islands. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning at the time, something it does when warm temperatures, very low humidity and strong winds combine to raise fire danger.

Laura Farris, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, said some drier air was expected to move in to the western end of the state this weekend, which presents some concerns about fire risk.

“But it’s not even close to what we saw last year,” Farris said.

The pressure system to the north is not as strong now as last year and the tropical system to the south is a storm not a hurricane, said Pao-Shin Chu, a University of Hawaii professor and the state’s climatologist.

“We do see something similar but not as dramatic as the Lahaina case we saw last year,” Chu said.

Hurricane Gilma was packing maximum sustained winds near 120 mph (193 kph), making it a Category 3 hurricane. It was slowly moving west. The National Weather Service said Gilma was expected to slowly weaken this weekend.

The cause of Lahaina blaze, the deadliest in the United States in over a century, hasn’t been determined, but it’s possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds.

To reduce the risk of wildfires, the state’s electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, have since started shutting off power during high winds and dry conditions.

Last year, Maui County officials failed to activate outdoor sirens that would have warned Lahaina’s people of the approaching flames. They instead relied on a series of sometimes confusing social media posts that reached a much smaller audience.

Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, who took over as the new administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency on Jan. 1, said in the event of a wildfire threat, his agency would send alerts over radio and television broadcasts, via cellphones and with the sirens.

The sirens sound a steady tone and no message.

“The outdoor warning siren is typically used when there is an imminent threat to public safety and the situation requires the public to seek more information,” Lonokailua-Hewett said in an emailed statement.