Tsunami Warning for Hawaii, First Wave at 11:19 a.m. HST, 10-15 Foot Waves; Advisory for West Coast

Saturday, February 27, 2010 | Kristinn/ NWS

[kristinn]

The National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami warning for Hawaii and a tsunami advisory for the West Coast of the United States.

A NWS spokesman on CNN says it is estimated the tsunami waves will be 10 to 15 feet high when they hit Hawaii. The tsunmi waves could last up to six hours.

Recent buoy reports of wave heights vary from 5 to 16 feet.

Latest statement on Hawaii:

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 7
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
148 AM HST SAT FEB 27 2010

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WARNING SUPPLEMENT

A TSUNAMI WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.

SNIP

EVALUATION

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.

A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.

THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

1119 AM HST SAT 27 FEB 2010

The NWS has also issued a tsunami warning for most of the Pacific region:

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 006
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1147Z 27 FEB 2010

Here is a local report on the West Coast tsunami advisory:

A tsunami advisory has been issued for the California coast, including Del Norte County, following a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck off the central coast of Chile at 10:34 p.m. PST Friday.

The forecasted arrival time for Crescent City is 1:46 p.m. PST Saturday, however tsunamis can be dangerous for many hours after arrival, and the initial wave is not necessarily the largest, the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center says.

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA... WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

CHILE / PERU / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / ANTARCTICA / PANAMA / COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / PITCAIRN / HONDURAS / EL SALVADOR / GUATEMALA / FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI / AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU / HOWLAND-BAKER / NEW CALEDONIA / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / MIDWAY IS. / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / CHUUK / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / INDONESIA / N. MARIANAS / GUAM / YAP / BELAU / JAPAN / PHILIPPINES / CHINESE TAIPEI

[roses of sharon]

Please forgive my dumb question...can planes observe a wave coming way before it arrives?

[Eye of Unk]

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart.shtml The map here may not link but at the website they have Realtime Tsunami monitoring. These are tsunami buoys.

[PghBaldy]

Buoy data for those who can read it: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

NOAA time lapse video of tsunami across Pacific map: http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/chile20071114/nov14_2007com.mov

[Eye of Unk]

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart.shtml

[tcrlaf]

TWITTER:
6 Foot Wave Hit French Polynesia

YOUTUBE video of water in a Peruvian bay RECEDING TEN FEET, from Peruvian TV.

A Weather website said that bay wasn’t at risk because of geography, but the tsunami passing by off-shore was sucking the water OUT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxcOtaDgNZw

[fanfan]

Have you stayed there before?

[Dinah Lord]

Yes. We were there last year for a wedding. Loved it.

[Tennessee Nana]

Didnt you have a tsunami when New Zealand had the earthquake in 1968 ???

As I remember the “ring of fire” was all effected then ...

I got tossed out of bed about 5 AM NZ in that one...

[tcrlaf]

WOW...
Notice how the Southwest Alaska coast takes it full on?

[cake_crumb]

Very worrying stuff.

[BIGLOOK]

Aloha kakahiaka, Fish Hawk.

I'll be leaving around 0900 too. Some have already split, remembered something they forgot and are stopped by CD and the cops from returning. Last I heard, evacuation will become mandatory at 1000.

As usual, there's a run on toilet paper at the stores.

[BurbankKarl]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hitsunami

Live Local Hawaiian Coverage via Ustream

[REDWOOD99]

WOW!

[is_is]

i would think the water rushing back in would be the danger there......

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Special prayers for the island republic of Kiribati. That island is flat. I don’t think that it has a area this is higher than ten feet about sea level.

[tcrlaf]

Watch Buoy Station 41462 off the Mexican coast.

It’s due to be hit around 2000zulu (In a couple of hours). That will us a better idea of what’s coming for the west coast.

[wardaddy]

Dude!

[Eye of Unk]

I moved to Alaska in 1992, I don’t recall any significant news event of that time, but there probably was, as you can see Alaska and the Aleutians get hit with EVERYTHING.

We have volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, high winds, you name, well no drought desert areas but in due respect most people do not know how active the ground and weather really is up here.

[PghBaldy]

Not a dumb question. I assume not visible.

[Revolting cat!]

Say ‘Goodbye’ to Califlornia!