Hurricane Henriette 2013 has become a category 1 hurricane this week, becoming the strongest storm of the 2013 hurricane season so far as its sustained winds reached 90 mph on Tuesday. The path tracker for Hurricane Henriette shows the storm barreling through the Pacific Ocean; the storm's track can be seen in the map below.
Hurricane Henriette's winds are expected to strengthen to more than 100 mph as it heads northwest towards Hawaii, according to the director of public affairs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Experts are predicting that the hurricane will soon reach a category 2 hurricane, but could well weaken slightly to become a tropical depression when it passes near Hawaii over the weekend.
The storm is currently centered about 1,545 miles east of Hawaii but, "at this time, we do not anticipate Henriette making a landfall," NOAA meteorologist Dennis Feltgen has said.
So far this 2013 hurricane season there have been eight tropical storms in the Pacific, four of which have escalated to hurricane strength. In comparison the Atlantic has experienced four tropical storms so far this hurricane season.
Chris Vaccaro, the director of public affairs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said, "The eastern Pacific basin tends to be more active than the Atlantic" during hurricane season."
Experts at the NOAA have predicted that this year will see above average hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean.
The eastern Pacific hurricane season began on May 8, where as the Atlantic season began June 1, however, neither has reached the peak of their respective hurricane seasons yet.
The largest and potentially most devastating hurricanes generally occur between mid-August and late October, before the season finally comes to an end on Nov. 1.