One Swell Fades as Another Builds

Ho’okipa / Image: Jimmie Hepp

By Meteorologist Malika Dudley / Email: [email protected]

Alerts

A Small Craft Advisory has been issued for all Maui County waters from noon today through 6:00 a.m. Wednesday for winds of 25 knots or more and rough seas from 9 to 16 feet.

A Gale Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for all offshore waters.

A High Surf Advisory is posted for north-facing shores of Maui and Moloka’i through 6:00 a.m. Wednesday for 10 to 15 foot faces. 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

North: Surf heights are expected well overhead today. Best breaks east of Ho’okipa could see bigger waves on the sets possibly to double overhead, especially late in the day.

West: Spots open to the north could see wave heights of about chest to head high, bigger later in the day on the sets. 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: We don’t expect much for southern exposures – flat to knee high.

Our current swell is expected to fade today as another swell builds. The same storm system has reorganized in the Gulf of Alaska bringing another shot of surf energy our way. This swell is expected to fill in Monday afternoon. This swell should begin to fade midweek.

A few storms are showing up on models expected to bring more waves later this week and into the next. If these storms develop as expected we could see a couple of solid swells headed our way.

Nothing to get excited about out of the SPAC. Possible wind swell starting Tuesday.

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.  

**Click here for your detailed Maui County weather report.**

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS