Advisory Level Surf to Start The New Year
By Meteorologist Malika Dudley / Email: [email protected]
Alerts
A Small Craft Advisory is posted for the Kaiwi channel and Maui County windward waters through 6 p.m. Thursday. Rough seas up to 6 to 12 feet are expected. Inexperienced mariners should avoid navigating in these conditions.
A High Surf Advisory is in effect for north-facing shores of Molok’ai and Maui through Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Expect strong breaking waves, shore break and strong longshore and rip currents making swimming difficult and dangerous.
**Click directly on the images below to make them larger. Charts include: Maui County projected winds, forecasted swell direction, height & period, tides, a surface map and expected wave heights.**
Maui County Surf Forecast, New Year’s Day, January 1
North: Surf heights are expected double to possibly triple overhead today at the best breaks, especially for spots east of Ho’okipa. As the day goes on, the swell is expected to drop slightly.
West: Spots open to the swells are expected to get waves overhead to a few feet overhead on the sets at the best northerly breaks. Otherwise, breaks that don’t catch the swells, and / or are shadowed from them, are forecasted to get smaller surf at ankle high or flat.
South: Ankle to knee high surf is expected.
A mix of north and northwest swell energy is expected through the end of the week. Energy lingers into the weekend as it fades out. Since the energy is coming from several directions, it will be a bit haphazard at times.
New overlapping swells are expected for the weekend and beyond for north and west shores. Still pending development of storms. Will keep an eye on it.
Nothing of note out of the SPAC to get excited about.
Keep in mind, surf heights are measured on the face of the wave from trough to crest. Heights vary from beach to beach, and at the same beach, from break to break.
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