First Alert: Periods of gusty winds dominate this week

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (HawaiiNewsNow) – Good Monday Evening and a Happy Veteran’s Day.
On this holiday, breezy easterly trade winds are expected to persist through the week, with showers favoring windward and mauka locations as areas of moisture move through. The trade winds are forecast to become strong and gusty starting around mid-week and lasting into the weekend.
At the surface, high pressure is centered roughly 1200 miles northeast of Honolulu, which is producing locally breezy easterly trade winds across the islands today. Meanwhile, a storm-force low is quickly moving across the far North Pacific, and an associated cold front extends from roughly 40N, south-westward to the date line, and into the West Pacific.
High pressure remains established north of the islands through the forecast period, strengthening during mid-week. This translates to locally strong E trades continuing through Tuesday with near-gales from Wednesday onward. The existing Small Craft Advisory remains in effect and will eventually require an expansion in coverage as trades strengthen.
The next moderate NW swell will continue to build into Hawaiian waters through the morning hours, peaking near advisory levels for Kauai and Oahu by this evening. This swell will be followed by a slightly larger NW swell filling in from late Tuesday into Wednesday, which should produce advisory level surf along exposed N and W facing shores.
Surf along E facing shores will remain rough and choppy through the week due to the breezy trade winds. Long range models are showing a significant increase of wind waves from Wednesday through the end of the week due to a large fetch of strong trade winds setting up over and upstream of the state. This will lead to surf heights building and exceeding advisory thresholds along E facing shores during its peak.
Surf along S facing shores will remain small and near the seasonal average through the middle of this week. Mainly background S swell pulses linger in the longer range forecast.
WISHING YOU BLUE SKIES AND MUCH ALOHA.
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