Residents on the Hawaiian Islands are bracing for Tropical Storm Felicia’s heavy rains and gusty winds today and the next couple of days as travels through the island chain. Large and dangerous ocean swells have already reached the main island, and will sweep into the rest of the state through today, August 11.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center noted that a tropical storm watch remains in effect today for Oahu and for all of Maui County…which includes the islands of Maui…Kahoolawe…Lanai…and Molokai. At 2 a.m. HST Felicia was still a tropical storm with sustained winds near 40 mph, and was closing into the Hawaiian Island chain.

Her center was located 190 miles east of Jahului, Hawaii and 280 miles east of Honolulu. That’s near latitude 20.8 north and longitude 153.5 west . Because tropical storm force winds extend 100 miles from her center, they’ll be felt, along with rains, long before her center approaches the islands.

She’s continuing to move westward near 10 mph and will start moving west-northwest over the next couple of days. Minimum central pressure is 1007 millibars. She’s expected to weaken late tonight into a depression.

GOES-11, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite provided infrared imagery of Felicia’s clouds at 8 a.m. EDT on August 11. It revealed that Felicia no longer has the circular shape- indicating a weakening storm. Felicia is expected to weaken to a depression late tonight, August 11.

GOES-11 is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and images are created by NASA’s GOES Project, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.