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Stay Gold, Polynesia: South Pacific Keeps Pumping Out Good-to-Epic Colors
Tahiti turns on this weekend, South Shore Hawaii next week
Charlie Hutcherson
Hawaii turns on Monday, stays fun all week
More South Pacific juice lining up for Tahiti, Hawaii later next week
This might sound like a repeat, but it’s just the way things go in the South Pacific this time of year. After a week of solid gold surf in Tahiti and several days of rippable waves on the South Shore of Oahu, the islands are due for another round. And this time, Teahupo’o will likely transcend our gold rating and go full-on red not “Code Red,” you understand, just Epic-red, while Hawaii gets the gold.
Offseason West Swell En Route to Hawaii
Former-Super Typhoon Surigae helps direct rare, springtime west swell to Oahu
Charlie Hutcherson
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Swell builds Friday, holds Saturday, eases Sunday; breezy E trades
On-track to become largest North Shore swell in May west of 315 degrees
It’s been three decades since the North Shores of Hawaii benefited from a solid west swell in May. The North Pacific usually shuts down by then, sending many frothing Hawaiians to more dependable springtime locales like Mexico, Central America and Indonesia.
But this May will be different. Record-breaking, early-season Super Typhoon Surigae provided the spark for a powerful Northwest Pacific storm that looks very similar to the 1989 system that was fueled by Super Typhoon Andy. That was one of the last times a solid, long-period west swell under 315 degrees graced the Seven Mile Miracle in May (as verified by our forecasting geeks, who dial these things down to the degree).