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BIG SURF PICTURE Wednesday 6/5/13 SPAC
Currently: we were cranking with fat & heavy 18 second double to triple overhead surf from the SSW. On Wednesday 5/29 two storms spawned side by side off NZL. The One closer to NZL has a captured and wider fetch but weaker winds than the storm to its right. Still, each of these will fed off and merged with eachother allowing for a captured fetch with up to 40' seas whipped up by hurricane winds in the storm's center! This brings us a blend of SSW and S to way above (near double) advisory levels around late Tuesday 6/4 peaking 4-7 for most spots and up to 8' for focal reefs Tuesday after sunset and peaking into Wednesday evening. Thursday will start to fade but still be cranking 4-6'...
Next: a batch of winds pointing our way (fetch) sets up June 3-4th pushing large 8-12' SSW for the Volcom Fiji Pro THursday-Friday...we have to wait till June Monday 10th to feel the 1st lines of 16 seconds. This Taz SW should reach head high for 2 days or so.
Next: a freight train of storms march left to right far south of NZL along the roaring 50-60's. We get some decent swell from some of these. If all goes well, we might get 1-3' SSW with 15 seconds from Saturday-Monday June 12. This storm finally gets a NE tilt by Fri 6/7 leading to more reiforcement Friday 6/14.
Last: another fetch sets up in the Taz Seaby June 9th...add 6-7 days and we're up and at 'em again with small to moderate SW's filling Sat 6/15.
NPAC
Currently: It's back to 2' from the peak of fun 2-4' NNW swells gracing our country shores Monday-Tuesday; the source was marginal winds down from the central aleutians with a captured fetch Friday 5/31-6/1.
last: a NE tracking Low 1200miles off to our north centered in the 330-340 band has near gales and should push down some small 11 second NNW-N swell fililing Saturday June 8th up to 2-3' or head high sets into Sunday.
We shut down till further notice.
(See HERE)
East Shores: It's on the upside of a summery pattern. The recent Strong High to up N has whipped up fresh trades nearby and upstream allowing enough fetch to push surf up to 2-3+' along all windward shores and even adjacent SE and NE reefs.
Tropics: Nothing.
FETCH: often called the fetch length, is a term for the length of water or distance over which a given wind direction has blown. Fetch length along with the wind speed (or strength) determines the size of waves produced. The longer the fetch length and the faster the wind speed, the larger and stronger the wave will be and vice versa.
CAPTURED or FOLLOWING FETCH: Not only does the fetch length determine the power and energy of the wave. Additionally, if the winds/fetch are blowing in the same direction as during the wave's or storm's lifetime, the wave will in turn be even stronger. The fetch is related to the orbit of the wave and track of the storm.The longer the wind drags along the sea the more energy the wave will have. This can be seen not just in vertical height measurement but in wave period (the measurement of waves through time)
WAVES PERIOD:Time, in seconds, between the passage of consecutive wave crests past a fixed point. In general the longer the period the bigger the wave. Windswell or 'close interval' swells are under 10 seconds. Big 'ground swells' are 17-20+ seconds (note: a 20+ second swell needs storm force 50+kt winds blowing over a 1500 mile fetch to be fully developed' into 20-25' beasts; these 20 second waves can be felt 1000 feet down!). This is why they jack so much more, pulling large amounts of H2O off the outer reefs.
More generic marine definitions click this link http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/marinedef.php