The National Weather Service has continued the High Surf Advisory for east facing shores of all islands except Lana`i effective through 6pm this evening. The windswell should stay near the 4-7 foot range along our east and northeast facing shores today but it will drop a notch over the next several days. This windswell should still wrap into select areas around the island as well. North and northwest facing shores may drop to tiny levels around 3-5 foot early today but a new minor northwest swell should fill in late in the day, potentially building to head-high levels or slightly better. Upper West breaks will likely stay tiny at only 1-3 foot but some areas may get a little wrapping windswell if you know where to look. South facing shores will stay flat at only 0-2 foot possibly picking up tiny windswell wrap at select breaks.
The new incoming northwest swell may not reach Maui's shores until later in the day or even Thursday but it too is just a minor edge-pass with most of its energy passing far to the east of the islands. This pattern will continue for the next several days as a slightly better aimed north-northwest swell filling in Friday and yet another slightly larger bump arriving Saturday. Thankfully a more significant northwest swell is developing east of Japan that should provide us with more winter-like surf action after the weekend. The models show more action to follow, so keep your fingers crossed, as a lot can change over the next few days. Pray for surf! It looks like we may see a south-southeast swell developing through the end of the week, but the French Polynesian islands will block much of that energy. More details to come.
Missing Surfer/Camper Alert
Maui police are searching for 43-year-old Laura Vogel. Vogel was last seen on Sunday, February 21, 2010. Her van was found in the Pauwela Lighthouse Area of Maui's North Shore on Monday. It is thought that she was camping in the area on Sunday night. Vogel is approximately 5'7" with blond hair and blue eyes.
If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the police department at 808-244-6425.
Wind & Tide Info
The strong easterly tradewinds will continue around 20-25 mph today and some areas may see stronger gusts. The winds will ease off a little over the next several days while swinging to a more east-northeasterly direction. The Maui Tide Report for today is: High tide at Kahului was 2.0 foot at 12:35am late last evening, dropping to a low of 0.7 foot at 7:40am this morning, rising slightly to a high of 1.0 foot at 11:49am just before noon, then fading through the afternoon to a low of 0.1 foot at 5:40pm early this evening.
Maui Weather
The strong tradewinds will continue to dominate our weather today but should decrease later in the day but wind speeds will likely stay on the strong end through the next few days. The gusty winds may be able to blow over more widespread showers today and some windward and mauka areas could see heavy rainfall at times. A trough is anticipated to affect the islands over the weekend which could trigger even more rains and possibly heavier rain early in the upcoming week. The high pressure is expected to shift through the day today which will slacken the pressure gradient, potentially swinging to the southeast over the weekend until a strong front arrives Monday along with strong northwest to northerly winds. In other words, expect plenty rain through the period.
