[watsisname]

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred this morning in the Queen Charlotte Islands Region and triggered a tsunami that will impact the Hawaiian islands within the next few hours.  If you are in this region, take notice.

Bulletin

WEHW40 PHEB 280514
TSUHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-280714-
/O.NEW.PHEB.TS.W.0001.121028T0509Z-000000T0000Z/

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER   3
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
709 PM HST SAT OCT 27 2012

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WARNING

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT
0709 PM HST.  THIS UPGRADE IS DUE TO THE SEA LEVEL READINGS
RECEIVED AND THE RESULTING CHANGE IN THE HAWAII TSUNAMI
FORECAST.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

   ORIGIN TIME - 0504 PM HST 27 OCT 2012
   COORDINATES - 52.8 NORTH  131.8 WEST
   LOCATION    - QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS REGION
   MAGNITUDE   - 7.7  MOMENT

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

 GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
 -------------------  ----- ------  -----  ---------------  -----
 DART 46404           45.9N 128.8W  0417Z   0.05M /  0.2FT  20MIN
 LANGARA POINT BC     54.2N 133.1W  0424Z   0.20M /  0.7FT  26MIN
 DART 46419           48.8N 129.6W  0346Z   0.06M /  0.2FT  12MIN

 LAT  - LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
 LON  - LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
 TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
 AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
        IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
        VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
 PER  - PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.

 NOTE - DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
        ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN WOULD BE COASTAL
         MEASUREMENTS AT SIMILAR LOCATIONS.

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

                     1028 PM HST SAT 27 OCT 2012

MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.

http://ptwc.weather.gov/

[CommanderDJ]

Godspeed to those affected by this. May they all get through it safely.

[Mongoose]

Jeez...my end of the country is getting hit with a Frankenstorm, and the other end has tsunami fun.  Fortunately it looks like the wave heights probably won't amount to much.

[watsisname]

Yes, the initial waves so far recorded in British Columbia have been fairly small (a foot or so from what I'm hearing).  I strongly hope that the same holds true for Hawaii, but it is always best to be safe and prepared!

[Nuke]

yea i felt the quake. it was a dinky little thing by the time it got here. i hear the water went up 2 inches in a neighboring village.

[yuezhi]

i could give a first hand account of what happened right outside the zone if it wasn't nighttime and always raining here

[Droid803]

Hueh, didn't feel it at all. Must have slept through it...and I'm in BC...

[watsisname]

The event is over and tsunami heights at the Hawaiian islands were up to 3 feet.  I was actually able to see them live from a hotel webcam; the water went in and out quite noticeably over a few minute interval.  Pretty neat, and good thing it wasn't any larger.

@Nuke:  I'd like to feel a (small) earthquake someday.  I slept through one in Bolivia, and was on the other side of the country when one hit my home state out of freaking nowhere last year.  Argh!

[Nuke]

well i spent a good portion of my childhood living in california, so to me that quake was nothing. of course i probibly only caught the edge of it.