Hurricane Lester passed north of Hawaii on Saturday.  All Hurricane Watches were cancelled, although the surf on the north coasts of the islands should be increased by the waves generated by Hurricane Lester.  At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday the center of Hurricane Lester was located at latitude 22.4°N and longitude 155.4°W which put it about 175 miles (285 km) east-northeast of Honolulu, Hawaii.  Lester was moving toward the west-northwest at 17 m.p.h. (28 km/h).  The maximum sustained wind speed was 85 m.p.h. (140 km/h) and there were wind gusts to 100 m.p.h. (160 km/h).  The minimum surface pressure was 985 mb.

Hurricane Lester weakened slowly on Saturday as it moved north of the Hawaiian Islands.  An upper level trough northwest of Lester produced southwesterly winds that blew across the top of the hurricane.  The vertical wind shear tilted the circulation toward the northeast with height.  The wind shear also inhibited the upper level divergence to the south of the center of Lester.  Less upper level divergence meant that the hurricane could not pump out as much mass and the surface pressure slowly rose.

Hurricane Lester is moving through an environment that is likely to weaken it further.  Lester is moving over water where the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is 27°C.  So, there is enough energy to support the hurricane.  However, the upper level trough will continue to create vertical wind shear and the shear will continue to weaken Hurricane Lester.

Hurricane Lester is moving around the western end of a subtropical ridge which is steering toward the west-northwest.  That general motion is expected to continue for several more days.  When Hurricane Lester gets farther north the westerlies in the middle latitudes will turn it toward the northeast.  On its anticipated track Hurricane Lester will stay north of the Hawaiian Islands.