Nolo becomes typhoon after crossing International Date Line

Nolo, which has been active for nearly three weeks, has changed from a hurricane to a typhoon after crossing the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, media reports said Sunday.

Nolo was a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) Sunday morning Hawaii time before crossing the date line, according to NBC News.

By Monday morning Japan time, Typhoon Nolo had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph) and was moving west at 19 mph (31 kph), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

"The good news is there's a large, vast ocean, so even though it is still going to be strong, it's not near any land," NBC quoted John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist with the US National Hurricane Center, as saying.

Nolo is forecast to continue moving west while gradually weakening.

The storm skirted Hawaii as a hurricane a week ago before weakening into a tropical storm and regaining hurricane strength Friday.

Tropical cyclones with winds exceeding 74 mph are called hurricanes in the northern Atlantic and central and eastern Pacific, but are known as typhoons in the North Pacific.