Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but it wasn't done punishing the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts. Total rainfall of nearly three feet (one meter) was expected on the higher windward slopes, turning rivers into raging torrents and threatening mudslides.
Tropical storm conditions were spreading westward Sunday from Maui to Oahu and then Kauai, and the National Hurricane Center warned that wind speeds atop mountains and on the windward and leeward slopes are often up to 30% stronger than the near-surface winds used to categorize storms.
