User:Iune/Maka

Meteorological history
On August 8, 2009, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) began to monitor an area of thunderstorms 600 miles (965 km) south of Hilo, Hawaii. Slow development was possible as the system moved west–northwest at about 15 mph (24 km/h). Early on August 11, the disturbance rapidly organized while about 930 miles (1495 km) southwest of Kauai, Hawaii. Later that morning (UTC time), the thunderstorm activity associated with the disturbance acquired enough organization for the CPHC to upgrade the disturbance to Tropical Depression One-C.

At the time of the upgrade the depression was separated from the Intertropical Convergence Zone and in an area of warm water and low wind shear would allow the depression to strengthen into a hurricane. One forecast model gave a 75% of a 25 knot (30 mph; 45 km/h) increase in the sustained wind speed in 24 hours. Over the next six hours, the cloud tops of the depression cooled, but did not get any more organized. That evening, because cloud tops and increased in coverage and cooled, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and named Maka. At the same time, Maka reached its peak intensity of 40 mph (65 km/h). That night, the center of circulation was hard to locate, however, the first few satellite images of the day showed that the center of Maka's circulation to be southwest of the deep thunderstorm activity. Upper level outflow from the storm was restricted in the western quadrants of the storm, which meant that vertical wind shear was impacting the storm. Early on August 12, Maka was downgraded to a tropical depression after only 12 hours at tropical storm intensity. There was some uncertainty whether Maka was still a tropical cyclone at the time with the center being relocated southeastward. Throughout the morning, Maka continued to grow more disorganized. Later that day, it was noted that Maka could not have a center of circulation, thereby downgrading it to a tropical wave. Finally, the center of circulation deteriorated so much that the last advisory was issued that night.