Expires:No;;606411 ACPN60 PHFO 012300 TWSCP TROPICAL WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE CENTRAL NORTH PACIFIC NWS CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER HONOLULU HI 100 PM HST MON DEC 1 2008 FOR THE CENTRAL NORTH PACIFIC...BETWEEN 140W AND 180 ...2008 CENTRAL NORTH PACIFIC HURRICANE SEASON REVIEW... THERE WAS ONE TROPICAL CYCLONE IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER /CPHC/ AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY DURING THE 2008 HURRICANE SEASON. TROPICAL STORM KIKA WAS THE NAME OF THE ONLY TROPICAL CYCLONE THAT CPHC ISSUED ADVISORIES FOR THIS SEASON. KIKA WAS THE FIRST TROPICAL CYCLONE THAT CPHC HAS ASSIGNED A HAWAIIAN NAME TO SINCE HURRICANE IOKE DEVELOPED IN THE CPHC AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY DURING THE 2006 HURRICANE SEASON. THERE HAVE BEEN TWO OTHER YEARS DURING THE PERIOD 1966 TO 2008 WITH ONLY ONE TROPICAL CYCLONE IN THE CENTRAL NORTH PACIFIC...1975 AND 1995. IN FACT...THERE WERE THREE YEARS DURING THE SAME TIME PERIOD WITH NO TROPICAL CYCLONES... 1969...1977 AND 1979. THE SYSTEM WHICH EVENTUALLY BECAME TROPICAL DEPRESSION ONE-C WAS FIRST NOTED WHEN IT WAS A WEAK DISTURBANCE ALONG AN EAST TO WEST ORIENTED SURFACE TROUGH THAT EXTENDED EAST OF LONGITUDE 140W. THIS WEAK DISTURBANCE WAS FIRST IDENTIFIED BY FORECASTERS AT CPHC OVER THE NORTHEASTERN PACIFIC EARLY ON THE MORNING OF 4 AUGUST NEAR 10N 136W...NOTE THAT ALL DATES ARE BASED ON HAWAII STANDARD TIME OR HST. THIS DISTURBANCE MOVED WESTWARD AT ABOUT 15 MPH DURING THE NEXT TWO DAYS...AND WAS DESIGNATED TROPICAL DEPRESSION ONE-C BY CPHC ON THE AFTERNOON OF 6 AUGUST WHEN IT WAS ABOUT 850 MILES SOUTHEAST OF HILO...HAWAII. SIX HOURS LATER...TROPICAL DEPRESSION ONE-C WAS UPGRADED TO A TROPICAL STORM AND WAS ASSIGNED THE NAME KIKA. TROPICAL STORM KIKA WAS A RELATIVELY SMALL TROPICAL CYCLONE THAT MOVED WESTWARD AT ABOUT 15 MPH SOUTH OF A SUBTROPICAL RIDGE. KIKA NEVER STRENGTHENED BEYOND A MINIMAL TROPICAL STORM...EVEN THOUGH THE ENVIRONMENT SURROUNDING THE TROPICAL CYCLONE APPEARED TO BE FAVORABLE FOR SOME SLIGHT INTENSIFICATION. THE SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES WERE AROUND 27C ALONG ITS PATH...WHICH WAS GENERALLY ALONG LATITUDE 10N. THE ENVIRONMENTAL VERTICAL WIND SHEAR IN THE VICINITY OF THE TROPICAL CYCLONE WAS INCREASING ACCORDING TO UW-CIMMS ANALYSES ON THE MORNING OF 08 AUGUST. THE FIRST VISIBLE IMAGES THAT MORNING INDICATED THE LOW LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER OF KIKA HAD BECOME SEPARATED FROM THE DEEP CONVECTION. AS A RESULT... KIKA WAS DOWNGRADED TO A TROPICAL DEPRESSION. THIS WEAKENED CONDITION WAS TEMPORARY...AND KIKA WAS UPGRADED TO TROPICAL STORM INTENSITY AGAIN BY THE EVENING OF 8 AUGUST. ANALYSES FROM UW/CIMSS INDICATED THE VERTICAL WIND SHEAR WAS 10 MPH OR LESS AT THIS TIME. THE TROPICAL STORM...WHICH TRAVELLED WESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...WAS MOVING OVER 26.5C TO 27C SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES. KIKA EVENTUALLY LOST ITS DEEP CONVECTION AND WEAKENED AGAIN...WHICH RESULTED IN A DOWNGRADE TO A TROPICAL DEPRESSION BY THE AFTERNOON OF 10 AUGUST WHEN IT WAS ABOUT 875 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF HONOLULU...HAWAII. THE TROPICAL DEPRESSION CONTINUED TO WEAKEN...AND THE FINAL ADVISORY FOR THIS SYSTEM WAS ISSUED BY CPHC DURING THE EVENING OF 11 AUGUST. THE REMNANTS OF FORMER TROPICAL DEPRESSION KIKA CROSSED THE DATELINE INTO THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC LATE ON 13 AUGUST. THERE WERE NO KNOWN NEGATIVE IMPACTS FROM THIS SYSTEM...SINCE IT REMAINED WEAK DURING ITS ENTIRE LIFETIME. 2008 SUMMARY TABLE...DATA ONLY FOR THE CENTRAL PACIFIC... NAME DATES...HST MAX. WIND EST. MINIMUM PRESSURE -------------------------------------------------------------- TS KIKA 6-11 AUG 35 KT/40 MPH 1007 MB/29.74 IN FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE CPHC WEB SITE AT.../IN LOWERCASE/...WWW.WEATHER.GOV/CPHC $$ HOUSTON