{"id":606315,"date":"2026-09-20T15:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606315\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T15:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:08:14","slug":"south-island-swells-metservice-forecasts-combined-waves-up-to-10m-offshore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606315\/","title":{"rendered":"South Island swells: MetService forecasts combined waves up to 10m offshore"},"content":{"rendered":"
For context, 10m is about the height of a three-storey building \u2013 or nearly one-and-a-half times the height of Paeroa\u2019s 6.8m L&P bottle.<\/p>\n
MetService marine forecast for big swells around Fiordland, Southland and Stewart Island. Photo \/ MetService<\/p>\n
\u201cSwell is generated by wind energy getting put into the ocean through consistent, strong winds over a given area,\u201d Holden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, the southwesterlies have been brewing over the Southern Ocean for a very long time. So a lot of energy has been put into the water and that\u2019s finally reached us here in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
In some southern areas, the swells will produce sizeable waves along the coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do cause concern. Coastal erosion, specifically, potential inundation if they arrive at the same time as a high tide,\u201d Holden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, it would be best to check with your local council website, with regards to if there is anything that locals need to be aware about for themselves. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also a danger for those attempting to leave or return to harbours.\u201d <\/p>\n
Conditions are expected to ease on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the swell travels north, it\u2019s become detached from the southwesterlies that generated it in the first place, so they do dissipate as they move northwards,\u201d Holden said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For context, 10m is about the height of a three-storey building \u2013 or nearly one-and-a-half times the height…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45054,56717,13245,7469,11551,2514,20591,21494,111,43,139,1536,69,4732,1523,17711,1240,73661,61,810,13745,102],"class_list":["post-606315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-10m","tag-combined","tag-expecting","tag-forecasts","tag-hours","tag-island","tag-metservice","tag-monster","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-offshore","tag-over","tag-parts","tag-south","tag-swells","tag-to","tag-up","tag-waves","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}