Posted at 11:57 a.m., Monday, January 12, 2004
Big winds, waves set to hit in two days
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The National Weather Service, which posted a cautionary statement today, says that a cold front will produce strong southwest winds of 35 to 40 mph for much of Wednesday for south- and west-facing areas. But as the winds fly over mountain areas, they will gust to even stronger speeds as they travel downslope in Windward areas.
Mountainous waves are also in the forecast and a high-surf advisory was in effect today.
Surf along north- and west-facing shores, which has pounded beaches since early Saturday, is expected to continue to be large today with wave faces of 20 to 30 feet, but be even larger on Wednesday. The weather service said Wednesday’s surf could be "the biggest swell of the season."
"The bigger one will be Wednesday," said weather service forecaster Norman Hui. "We will probably get up to 45 feet."
Winds today were out of the south and brought a brief band of showers this morning. The winds gusted to 35 mph today, but were expected to weaken somewhat before Wednesday, Hui said.
"It’s a little breezy out there," Hui said. "It’s going to weaken a little this afternoon. As the next front approaches we expect the winds to pick up again. It’s going to be a little stronger than we have now."
