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.