The first wave of the tsunami has passed through Midway Island with a more than 8-foot wave measured, the National Weather Service said about 1:25 a.m.Hawaii time.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Midway recorded a 5.1-foot wave.

Eariler in the evening, coastal gauges at Wake Island and Saipan showed arriving wave heights of about 1.6 feet and 2.5 feet respectively, said Pacific Tsunami Warning Center geophysicist Gerard Fryer.

For Hawaii, that means, so far, "it looks like the largest waves, in Haleiwa and Hilo, will be about 2 meters (more than 6 feet)," Fryer said.

Fryer said scientists are actually analyzing two models — one that shows waves of up to 2 meters and one showing half of that.