Hurricane Iona was expected to move westward and does not pose any land threat to the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.

Andrew Austin-Adler, a student meteorologist specializing in tropical cyclones, said on X: "Strongest CPAC hurricane since WALAKA is inbound. Iona is on the fast track to reaching major hurricane strength - official forecast is 120mph which could be conservative."

Tropical Storm Iona continued racing west across the Central Pacific early today while Tropical Storm Gil strengthened far to the east, with both systems posing no threat to Hawaii, forecasters said.