When’s the wind coming back? What’s the forecast for the weekend? Next week? As those of you who are here now or coming to Maui soon on your windsurfing vacations know, our trade winds have pulled a disappearing act. We feasted on trade winds from June through the end of September with scarcely a day going by without sailable conditions. With all the epic conditions we enjoyed in September, I had a feeling we were sailing on borrowed wind. Well, time the time to pay the piper has arrived.
Sunny, blue skies all over today - sign of trade winds returning?
Light and variable winds have been the call for this last week, with light onshore sea breezes on both north and south shores. SUP weather. This trend looks like it might be about to change, at least a little, for a few days. The last several days we’ve had a lot of vog (volcanic haze from the Big Island) and haze, which we tend to get when the trade winds go away. Today has been sunny and bright everywhere all day long which means we’ve got an overall north breeze going, albeit still pretty light. And the latest forecast from the National Weather Service is sounding a bit more promising for the weekend into early next week:
A HIGH TO THE NORTHWEST OF THE ISLANDS WILL PRODUCE A TEMPORARY RETURN OF THE TRADES TOMORROW THROUGH TUESDAY…TOMORROW MORNING A HIGH PRESSURE CENTER CURRENTLY FAR NORTHWEST OF THE ISLANDS AT ABOUT 30N 180W WILL MOVE EAST CLOSER TO THE ISLANDS…BRINGING BACK THE TRADE WINDS…ALTHOUGH THEY WILL ONLY REACH MODERATE STRENGTH.
I’m thinking that tomorrow is still a bit iffy for the average Maui-sized quiver, but still possible, and the same for Tuesday. But Sunday and Monday look pretty favorable. After that, it looks like it’s back to more of what we’ve had this week.
As for the surf forecast, here’s the official Hawaiian surf forecast from the National Weather Service:
Outlook through Thursday Oct 15: north facing shores continue to see dropping surf around chest to head high this afternoon. Fresh northwest swell will fill in rapidly overnight with surf potentially reaching the double overhead range tomorrow through the remainder of the weekend. Additional longer period north Pacific energy shows during the first half of next week keeping surf well overhead, and possibly nearing advisory levels mid week. Generally small surf around waist high will persist for south facing shores with top focal areas pulling in inconsistent chest high plus sets through tomorrow, then drop steadily early next week. Light to moderate northeast trades return over the weekend and into Monday, so winds may be more onshore than normal for many locations.
