Breezy tradewinds will produce rough and elevated surf along east-facing shores of most of the state through this afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
At about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the Weather Service extended a high-surf advisory for the east shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii island until 6 p.m. today.
Surf was 6 to 8 feet along some eastern shores Sunday and forecast to be the same through Monday, the weather service said.
Strong breaking waves and shorebreaks are expected. The weather service urged beachgoers to heed the advice of lifeguards and to exercise caution.
A small-craft advisory also remains in effect until 6 p.m. today for all Hawaii waters, as easterly winds are 30 to 35 mph and seas are 9 to 12 feet.
HAWAII ISLAND
Research on rapid ohia death takes look at ambrosia beetle
University of Hawaii researchers are pursuing a promising lead into the ecologically devastating spread of rapid ohia death on Hawaii island.
The fungal disease has been linked to the death of hundreds of thousands of ohia trees on the island, affecting almost 50,000 acres of ohia forest, since it was discovered in 2013.
In coordination with a multiagency working group, the researchers have been focusing their attention on the ambrosia beetle, an insect just a few millimeters long, believed to play a role in spreading the disease.
“One of the most likely ways is these beetles boring into the wood,” said Curtis Ewing, a junior researcher in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, said in a statement Sunday. “They’re doing this 24 hours a day.”
Ewing said the beetles enter the trees headfirst and chew the wood, which creates dust, or frass. The dust is pushed out of the tree as the insects back out.
The scientists have found that as much as 75 percent of the boring dust produced by ambrosia beetles contains spores that carry rapid ohia death.
“So you can have this boring dust or frass coming out of the tree 24/7, gets caught in the wind, gets blown across the forest, lands on the trees,” said Ewing.
As much as 10 percent of the ambrosia beetles tested were positive for the disease. If it can be proved that the beetles are actually spreading the disease, efforts could be made to manage beetle habitats in dead and dying trees.
