 At 1800 UTC on August 1 , an unidentified ship roughly 950 mi ( 1 @,@ 550 km ) southeast of Hilo , Hawaii reported 70 mph ( 110 km / h ) winds within a storm , prompting the JTWC to initiate advisories on Tropical Storm Dot . Despite an apparent correlation between Dot and the preceding unnamed tropical cyclone , the lack of ship reports between July 27 and August 1 prevented the agency from confirming that the two systems were the same . Nonetheless , development upon designation was rapid as the system tracked westward , with reports from the SS <unk> indicating that Dot had intensified to hurricane strength by August 2 . Rapid intensification continued , and at 0000 UTC on August 3 , reconnaissance aircraft found winds of 150 mph ( 240 km / h ) and a minimum barometric pressure of 952 mbar ( hPa ; 28 @.@ 11 inHg ) , making Dot a Category 4 hurricane on the modern @-@ day Saffir – Simpson hurricane wind scale . Later analysis indicated that these figures constituted the hurricane 's peak intensity . 
