HONOLULU — Barely holding on to hurricane strength, Iselle’s outer edges brought rain and wind to Hawaii on Thursday as it approached landfall, poised to become the first hurricane or tropical storm to hit the island chain in 22 years and whose path another hurricane closely followed.

Hurricane Iselle was expected to pass overnight across the Big Island, one of the least populated islands that is known for coffee fields, volcanoes and black sand beaches, then send rain and high winds to the rest of the state on Friday. The storm’s predicted track had it skirting just south of the other islands.

Forecasters were analyzing storm data before making possible changes to its categorization, National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Lau said.

“But we’re not really too concerned about the track or the intensity of the system,” Lau said. “We’re primarily urging residents to still take proper precautions to prepare themselves to keep everyone safe.”