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Alerts
A High Surf Advisory is posted for the north and east facing shores of the Big Island through 6:00 a.m. Wednesday. Surf of 6 to 10 feet is expected. Expect strong breaking waves, shore break and strong longshore and rip currents making swimming difficult and dangerous.
A Small Craft Advisory is posted for all Big Island waters through 6 a.m. Tuesday for northeast winds up to to 30 knots and rough seas up to 15 feet. Inexperienced mariners should avoid navigating in these conditions.
A Gale Warning is posted through Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m. for the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel. East winds up to 35 knots and rough seas up to 18 feet are forecasted. Mariners without the proper vessel and experience should remain in port until gale conditions end.
**Click directly on the images below to make them larger. Charts include: Big Island projected winds, tides, swell direction & period and expected wave heights.**
Hilo side: Messy shoulder to head high waves are expected today. The best breaks open to the swells could go bigger on the sets.
Kona side: Wave heights of knee to shoulder high are expected.
South: Wave heights start out knee to belly high then build to chest/shoulder high in the afternoon.
Our current reinforcing northwest is expected to hold through the first half of this week. It should fade out by Thursday.
South-southwest building on Monday with another pulse overlapping in the afternoon. Tuesday another dose of surf energy is expected holding through Thursday.
Keep in mind, surf heights are measured on the face of the wave from trough to crest. Heights vary from beach to beach, and at the same beach, from break to break.