Next week looks really active now, with a few different swell sources in the offing and a fair bit of model divergence which we will need to resolve on Friday.
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Gales exiting Bass Strait today will see a first pulse of weaker refracted S swell early tomorrow but the real juice is being generated by a deeper fetch of severe gales tracking from 55S up to 40S, into the Tasman sea through today and early tomorrow.
This is another impressively large and complex system, with a double headed low centre forming in the deep southern ocean around 60S and a more proximate cold front fetch expected to push NE to be adjacent to Tasmania through Monday morning.
The very active Southern Ocean pattern reaches a crescendo late Sun into Mon with an intense, complex polar low which becomes slow moving as it enters the Tasman sea swell window.
Energy radiating from this source fetch is expected to see a slow tail off in wave heights through tomorrow, with some rideable leftovers Wed, but you will have to deal with freshening N’ly winds.
Our “long tail” is still on the menu to start next week. With the small but intense low becoming slow moving as it drifts NE up towards the Northern peninsula of the North Island, crossing it overnight Sun.
A small trough Sat east of Tasmania separated from the polar flow forms a compact low that super-charges another SW fetch of severe gales that tracks aggressively NE into the central Tasman overnight Sat into Sun.
Thursday is a much better bet for a more solid spike in S swell. A series of severe gale strength SW fetches slingshot around the eastern flank of the low, tracking NE into the Tasman and generating several S swell pulses.
There’s not much surf expected this weekend. But, we have a few long term sources shaping up nicely.
A vigorous front will push east of Bass Strait tonight, and strong to gale force W/SW winds in its wake will generate a flukey south swell for Southern NSW.