South swell may reach rare heights
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
No matter how you measure it, surf along south-facing shores will be bigger than usual this weekend.
Beginning later today, wave faces will begin to rise to about 8 feet and reach 15 or 16 feet by Saturday, according to the National Weather Service and a veteran surf forecaster.
Pat Caldwell, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Data Development Center at the University of Hawai'i, said he might even raise his wave-height forecast for the weekend to "10-foot Hawaiian," which under National Weather Service standards means a 20-foot face.
"We definitely have above par for our typical big south swell," Caldwell said. "It's something in line with a five- to 10-year episode."
An exceptionally strong storm southeast of New Zea-land last week is sending the waves.
Spring waves are not a forecast of what is to come during the summer. But April saw the best surf in 30 years, Caldwell said, with several days of waves with 8-foot faces or 4 feet, Hawaiian style.
Beginning last year, the National Weather Service tried to make the measuring process more uniform by strictly reporting waves by what's known as their face value meaning the height of the face of a wave.
The weather service used to report waves using local-size and not face value. For example, a 10-foot wave would be approximately a 20-foot wave this year.
Those who want to guess a wave's height can get a fairly accurate idea by measuring the face of it in proportion to the general height of the person riding it.
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.