Advisory Level Swell Peaks Today, More Swells on The Way

Randy Goose Welch surfing on Maui / Image: Dooma Photos

By Meteorologist Malika Dudley / Email: malika@mauinow.com

Alerts

A High Surf Advisory is posted through 6:00 p.m. Saturday for the north and west facing shores of Moloka’i and the north shore of Maui. Surf from 12 to 16 feet is expected for the north exposures, while wave heights of 8 to 12 feet are expected for the west side of Moloka’i. Expect strong breaking waves, shore break and strong longshore and rip currents making swimming difficult and dangerous.

A Small Craft Advisory is posted for all Maui County waters (excluding Ma’alaea Bay and the Pailolo Channel) through 6:00 p.m. Saturday for rough seas of 6 to 11 feet. Inexperienced mariners should avoid navigating in these conditions.

**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, Thursday, January 15, 2015

North: Surf heights are expected head high or more.  The best breaks, especially spots east of Ho’okipa, will be overhead to slightly overhead. Nice conditions early with our light wind speeds. New west-northwest is expected to bring larger waves by sunset.

West: Some spots will catch wrap from the west-northwest swell. 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 high surf is expected. Most spots are flat.

Our current west-northwest swell is expected continue to fade today. The north shore of Maui is partially shadowed from the swell but spots east of Ho’okipa will still see some fun wave action.

A slightly larger west-northwest swell is expected to arrive late Thursday bringing possibly up to double overhead waves by sunset. Swell is expected to peak Thursday into Friday. A reinforcement is expected for the weekend.

Pending development, models are predicting a much larger northwest swell arriving around the middle of next week, producing surf well above warning levels. 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.  

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

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS

Image: NOAA / NWS