Issued: Dec 19, 2010 8:00 am HST
For the central north Pacific, between 140°W and 180.
1. A gale low located just west of the international dateline about 610 miles south southwest of Midway atoll and 1480 miles west of Honolulu, which is moving toward the south at less than 10 mph, continues to exhibit tropical characteristics as it moves over warmer waters. This system is maintaining a persistent ring of thunderstorms surrounding its well defined center. Forecast models indicate this system will turn back toward the southeast or east today, which will likely bring it back into the Central Pacific Hurricane Center area of responsibility later today or tonight. There is a high chance, 90 percent, of this system being a tropical cyclone as it crosses back into the central north Pacific basin during the next 48 hours. For additional information on this gale low, see the high seas forecast issued for the north Pacific ocean by the National Weather Service forecast office in Honolulu, Hawaii under AWIPS header hsfnp, or WMO header fzpn40 PHFO.
