(Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ana, churning across the central Pacific with sustained winds of up to 70 miles (113 km) per hour on Wednesday, is expected to grow into a hurricane later in the day as it closes in on Hawaii, with landfall possible this weekend, forecasters said.
The last hurricane to hit Hawaii was a Category 4 storm, Iniki, which lashed the island of Kauai in September 1992 with winds of more than 140 miles per hour (225 kph), killing six people and causing damage estimated at $2.4 billion.
Ana, about 680 miles (1,100 km) southeast of Hilo on Hawaii's Big Island on Wednesday morning, is a comparatively weaker system, with maximum sustained winds expected to top out at about 90 mph (145 kph), just below the upper limits of a Category 1 storm, National Weather Service meteorologists said.
Tropical storms get classified as hurricanes when their maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph (119 kph), a level Ana was expected to reach by Wednesday night, forecasters said.
"It's probably going to become a hurricane before the day is out, and given its proximity (to Hawaii), a hurricane watch will probably will be posted for at least some of the main islands of Hawaii, and that could come as early as today as well," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
If Ana remains on a track to hit Hawaii it could make landfall by Saturday morning, forecasters said.
Residents were being advised to stockpile food and potable water and to make sure they had an evacuation plan if necessary.
In August, Tropical Storm Iselle pummeled the Hawaiian Islands with high winds and heavy rain, forcing hundreds of people to seek shelter and knocking out power to more than 20,000 residents.
A second storm tracking right behind, Julio, passed hundreds of miles north of Hawaii.
The last recorded hurricane to hit Hawaii before Iniki in 1992 was the Kohala Cyclone in 1871.
(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
