A rapidly strengthening Hurricane Lowell has intensified into a major Category 4 storm in the Central Pacific, and forecasters say it is on track to swing dangerously close to Hawaii's main islands right as the state heads into Labor Day weekend.

As of Thursday, Lowell's sustained winds were near 140 mph, according to Hawaii News Now, after the storm underwent one of the fastest intensification bursts ever recorded in the basin — ballooning from a 70 mph tropical storm to a 160 mph Category 5 peak in roughly 30 hours.

The storm was located about 400 to 450 miles south-southwest of Hilo on Thursday morning, creeping west at just 9 to 10 mph, per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. That slow crawl is expected to end soon: the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's latest track calls for a sharp turn north and then north-northeast this weekend, sending Lowell accelerating toward the main Hawaiian Islands and passing near or just west of Kauai and Niʻihau around Labor Day.

A holiday weekend on edge

The timing puts the storm's most dangerous window — large surf, damaging wind gusts, and the threat of flash flooding — squarely over the holiday. The National Weather Service briefly posted, then canceled, a tropical storm warning for waters offshore Wednesday night as meteorologists worked to pin down the track, according to Fox Weather hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross, who cautioned that confidence in exactly how sharp and how fast that turn happens remains unusually low this far out.

THE TURN IS COMING — THE QUESTION IS HOW CLOSE IT BRINGS THE CORE TO KAUAI

Maui Now reports state emergency officials are urging residents across the island chain to review hurricane supply kits and evacuation routes now, rather than waiting for a final track. Even a near-miss from a storm of Lowell's size could send life-threatening surf onto north- and west-facing shores days before the center arrives.

Hawaii's tourism industry, still one of its biggest economic engines, is watching closely: Labor Day weekend ranks among the busiest travel periods of the year for the islands, and a direct hit or even a glancing blow could disrupt tens of thousands of visitor itineraries alongside the safety concerns for residents. Airlines have not yet issued blanket waivers, but that typically follows once a storm's track firms up inside 72 hours.

Lowell isn't traveling alone. Two more systems, Hurricane Karina and Tropical Storm Marie, are trailing it through the same stretch of the Central Pacific, though neither is currently forecast to threaten land. Storm intensity and exact positioning shift with every six-hour advisory, and the National Hurricane Center's live bulletins remain the authoritative source for real-time wind speeds and track updates as the holiday weekend approaches.

Hawaii's governor's office and county civil defense agencies have not yet declared a state of emergency, but officials say that could change quickly if the northward turn materializes as forecast. For now, the message from forecasters is unanimous: this is not the time to finalize holiday beach plans without checking the forecast one more time.