Summer erosion on Oahu's North Shore is eating the beach up to the doorsteps of homes near Pupukea, bad news for homeowners and for public beach access.

• Homes near Sunset Beach and Pipeline are the closest to the edge they have been in eight years, with a public right-of-way staircase now too unstable to use.
• Unusually strong trade-wind swells this summer pushed far more sand than normal from Pupukea toward Kawela, exposing the shoreline.
• Ten years of satellite images show El Niño years bring a predictable fall erosion cycle, and this year fits the pattern.
• University of Hawaii researchers are finishing a North Shore beach management plan for the Legislature, due in December, that will recommend restoring dunes, managing foot traffic, and trucking sand back to eroded stretches.
• The plan will not recommend seawalls or rock barriers, and its goal is saving public beaches, not protecting private property.

Outlook: Winter's big northwest swells usually push the sand back, but until they arrive the homes stay exposed, and any lasting fix depends on what the Legislature does with the December plan.