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High surf reaching 20 to 30 feet will pound many of the north- and west-facingbeaches of Hawaii through the first of the week.The trigger for the towering breakers will lie with a train of powerful winterstorms raking across the North Pacific Ocean, hundreds if not thousands ofmiles to the north. Monster waves heaped up by midocean gales will find theirway southeastward into Hawaii waters, where they will pile up on Sunday as theyclose in on such notorious strands as those of northern Oahu.

The waves will fade in height on Monday and Tuesday.

Importantly, the same series of storms ruffling the seas around Hawaii willalso pound the mainland West Coast, foremost California, with towering surf aswell as rain and wind during the coming week.

Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews.