Complex and dynamic weekend ahead, with an upper trough, surface trough and front forming a surface low in the convergence off the North Coast. The initial front now feeds into a deepening trough line off the Mid North Coast (separate to the developing surface low off the North Coast ) which amplifies the fetch of S/SE winds adjacent to the Central NSW Coast.
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Plenty of size and wind for Father's Day weekend, slowly settling into next week with better options
The current pattern- with weak high pressure drifting across Central NSW and a soft ridge along the coast- will be replaced in emphatic fashion by a much stronger front and trough on Friday, anchored by a monster high moving into the Bight at the same time. Well to the south of that set-up will be a deep polar low and associated fronts with severe gales to storm force winds generating long period S’ly swells to make landfall early next week.
Not a great deal of action on the charts to start the last week of Winter. A strong high (1040hPa) is on the other side of New Zealand but pressure gradients in the Tasman are weak, with minimal swell energy being generated from that source. N’ly winds are freshening ahead of a trough which is drawing down more moisture from the Indian Ocean and brings a S’ly change mid-week and a small pulse in S swell.
Bit of a slow weekend ahead, with easing southerly swells for Saturday becoming very small into Sunday.
The current robust but compact low is driving near gales in a thin fetch adjacent to the Central/Mid North Coast, with a tail of weaker winds extending out into the Central Tasman, with the whole show moving eastwards quickly today. Another, much weaker front, pushes up the coast tomorrow before a large high pressure system sets up a ridge along the temperate to sub-tropical coast of NSW.
Synoptic charts this week look typical of a seasonal transition with mobile high pressure up at sub-tropical latitudes and a strong front poised to sweep into the Tasman with a robust low forming on the front line before rapidly shifting eastwards. Behind that typical seasonal pattern lurks signs of La Niña with a persistent trough line in the Coral Sea and a very strong high expected to track through the Southern Bight later this week.
Things just got super complex for next week, dammit.
All looking pretty fun to finish the rest of the week with light winds under a dominant high pressure system, and a building swell from the eastern quadrant.
A deep low just to the East of Tasmania is now slowly weakening and moving away, maintaining a westerly flow across the region. A trough line linked to the low extends from the Tasman Sea up into the Coral Sea past New Caledonia and over the next few days this trough deepens as it slowly moves East, activating an incredibly wide fetch of E to NE winds infeeding into it.
We still have the same building blocks in place for next week but the timing has been pushed back and the mix has been altered as E swell dominates from the “trough block” and S swell fades in importance.