(TWC) – Hurricane Barbara is weakening after peaking at Category 4 intensity in the eastern Pacific, encountering increasingly hostile conditions that should render it just a weak remnant low by the time it reaches Hawaii early next week. Barbara’s maximum sustained winds peaked at 155 mph late Tuesday into early Wednesday, just shy of Category 5 intensity. Colorado State University tropical scientist Phil
Klotzbach said Barbara was the strongest “B” storm in the eastern Pacific in records dating to 1971. The hurricane still has a rather impressive presentation on satellite imagery, with a distinct eye, but has begun its deteriorating stage. Its northwestward track is now taking it over cooler water, which will help to further weaken Barbara. It will also soon move into an area of stronger west to southwest winds aloft that will increase wind shear, acting to rip apart the storm’s core. READ MORE
