Associated Press “Towering waves in Hawaii crash into homes, barrel through wedding venue” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/18/hawaii-waves-swell-south-pacific
現地時間７月16日から17日にかけて、布哇のカイルナ・コア海岸に最大で高さ６米の高波が押し寄せた。家々は屋根から水をかぶり、屋外結婚式会場は水浸しになった。この高波で、後頭部に裂傷を負ったサーファーが１名いただけで、ほかに死傷者はなかった。
米国国立気象局（National Weather Service）*1のクリス・ブレンクリー氏の話を中心に；
Chris Brenchley, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Honolulu, said several factors came together to create such huge waves.“Waves over 12 or 15ft (3.66 or 4.57m), those become extremely big and really rare to have,” he said. “It’s the largest it’s been in several decades.”
Brenchley said the swell was produced in the South Pacific, where it’s currently the winter season.
“They had a particularly strong winter storm where the winds were focused directly towards places like Samoa and then further on to the north into Hawaii,” he said.
Remnants of Hurricane Darby passed south of Hawaii but had no major impact on the surf, he said.While singular events like this hard to pin directly to climate change, Brenchley said the warming planet is playing a role.
“The most direct type of impact that we can use with climate change is the sea level rise. Any time you add just even small amounts of water, you raise that sea level just a little bit,” he said. “And now those impacts will be exacerbated whenever we have a large storm event or a ... high, high tide.”
Most large summer swells that come from the south are no bigger than about 10ft (3m), which would trigger a high surf advisory.
“We had some waves that were reaching 20ft (6m), 20ft-plus even,” Brenchley said. “That’s getting on the level of historic.”
