We are saved by cooler water temperature at our latitude, the sheering effect of prevailing winds which also pull storms north toward cooler water, and the impact of the volcanoes on the big  island. It is dangerous if storms just proceed West without turning northward because keeps them in warmer weather which strengthen the storm. They can pass the Big Island to the South and turn upward into the exposed shores of Oahu or Kauai. Unusual winds, storms, abnormal atmospheric pressure, and abnormal water temperature can cause the dangerous southerly path.