Three hurricanes barreling through the Pacific are nearing California and Hawaii as millions of Americans have been warned to prepare for life-threatening impacts.
Hurricane Lowell is expected to threaten the Hawaiian islands as soon as Labor Day after the major Category 3 storm makes an extreme turn north, potentially landing a direct hit on the islands of Kauai or O’ahu.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Marie has been moving up the coast of Mexico, and prediction models still show a strong possibility that the Category 2 cyclone will turn east and slam into the California Coast.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has already warned that both states face life-threatening conditions along crowded beaches and shorelines over the Labor Day holiday weekend, including rough surf and dangerous rip currents.
Rip currents are strong, narrow channels of water that flow quickly away from the shore, often pulling swimmers out to sea. They can be deadly as they sweep people into deeper water, exhausting them as they try to fight against the current.
Drenching downpours are also expected to ruin vacation weekends throughout Southern California, including in San Diego and Los Angeles, as Hurricane Marie nears the coast.
NHC expects Marie to weaken into a tropical depression before reaching the West Coast, but Lowell is projected to remain a major hurricane through Labor Day – potentially bringing dangerous weather to more than a million residents and tourists.
AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said: ‘We believe Lowell will track close enough with the hurricane’s large size to bring more significant impacts to the western portion of the islands in the form of heavy rain, strong winds and perhaps power outages.’
Hurricane Lowell (left), Hurricane Karina (center) and Hurricane Marie (right) have all formed in the Pacific at the same time, and are preparing to threaten California and Hawaii
Forecasters warn that multiple hurricanes will bring flooding rain and dangerous rip currents to Hawaii and California during the Labor Day holiday weekend
The third hurricane in the chaotic Pacific Ocean this week is Karina, which was initially feared to make a historic landfall in California before turning away from land.
The Category 2 hurricane may still play a role in how this stormy weekend plays out, as forecasters warn that Karina could have a strong influence on Lowell’s path towards Hawaii.
Hurricane Lowell could still miss Hawaii if Karina has less interaction with the upper-level low-pressure system in the region. This would pull Lowell to the northwest and steer the hurricane away from Kauai or O’ahu.
However, if Hurricane Karina moves to the west, ending up just north of Hawaii when Lowell begins its approach this weekend, the interaction between the two storms could cause Karina to stall and pull Lowell right towards the islands.
DaSilva also noted on Friday that there was another major system nearby that could impact Lowell and bring even more dangerous weather to Hawaii.
‘We have another concern that a large atmospheric river may develop well to the east of Lowell’s eye starting this weekend,’ DaSilva explained in a statement.
‘This could bring areas of heavy rain and flooding to islands such as O’ahu, Maui and the Big Island well ahead of Lowell and as the hurricane tracks near Kauai.’
Approximately 100,000 residents and vacationers are on Kauai on any given day. More than one million live and visit O’ahu, home to Honolulu.
Hurricane Lowell is project to near Hawaii as a major Category 3 storm between Monday and Tuesday
More than one million residents and tourists are in Hawaii, including in Honolulu, the state’s most populated city
In California, forecasters warn that the long weekend could be filled with high humidity, rain showers and potentially dangerous surf at local beaches, particularly in Los Angeles and San Diego.
According to AAA, Los Angeles is the seventh-most-popular domestic destination in the US for Labor Day weekend 2026.
San Diego is also expecting major crowds after seeing nearly all hotel rooms in the city booked during Labor Day weekend last year.
AccuWeather meteorologist Nicholas Arman said: ‘The most plausible scenario for Marie is for some moisture to be drawn up into Southern California and the deserts this weekend as the core of the tropical cyclone stays at sea.’
‘This scenario would bring some drenching downpours into the region.’
NHC warned that beach conditions could pose a major risk to vacationers, citing the increased rip currents forming due to Hurricane Marie’s move up the West Coast this week.
‘Swells generated by Marie will continue to affect portions of the coast of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula for the next few days and are expected to spread northward to Southern California through the weekend. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,’ NHC wrote in an alert.
Forecasts models show multiple tracks which could lead to a landfall for Hurricane Marie along the California Coast
Weather officials have already warned that beachgoers in Los Angeles should stay close to lifeguard stations this weekend due to dangerous rip currents expected (stock image)
Two major forecasting models, the so-called American and European models, both show multiple tracks which could take Marie towards a historic landfall in Southern California.
Meteorologist Levi Cowan aggregated dozens of these potential routes from the NWS’s Global Forecast System and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts to build the latest spaghetti models.
Those models, seen on Cowan’s website Tropical Tidbits, largely agree that the Pacific cyclone will continue rolling along the Baja Peninsula through the weekend, but its path after that becomes unclear.
Roughly half of the predictions show Marie turning east and spiraling into multiple California cities, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Clara and Santa Barbara.
The other half of the current predictions favor Marie continuing to head straight and remaining in the Pacific until it fades.
It is important to note that forecast models can shift dramatically once storms form and get closer to making landfall. The farther into the future a forecast model tries to predict, the weaker the certainty of it being correct gets.
