A Period of High Surf on Maui

The National Weather Service has issued a High Surf Advisory for the North Shore of all Hawaiian Islands except for Lanai. The surf is being generated by a storm over 1,000 miles to the north of the state. The storm is expected to track to East switching the swell direction more towards the North East. This could lead to a High Surf Warning for the Eastern Shores. The swell is expected to build over the next few days peaking on Monday or Tuesday. For Surfers, the swell is likely to start a little rough with frequent sets, large numbers of waves between sets, short periods between the swells and stronger than usual rip currents. The swell is supposed to clean up as it gets larger. There is a fair possibility that we might see surf with up to 20 foot faces or more at the swell’s peak. This is about the threshold at which Jaws begins to break. However, the North East Swell direction may not be favorable for Maui’s most famous big wave break. Regardless, there will be some big waves breaking on Maui’s East and North Shores over the next 3-4 days.