Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Monday 10th March)
Best Days: Thurs/Fri: solid swells from the SE plus a smaller NE swell Thurs, with offshore winds. Sat/Sun: rebuilding S'ly swells, plus a small long range E'ly swell. Mainly favourable winds. Mon: rapidly easing SE swell with a slowly easing E'ly swell, and offshore winds.
Easter outlook is UNREAL regardless with good winds and a solid mix of S/SE swells plus a couple of E/NE swells from these cyclones and their surrounding features.
The models every so slightly eaed back the stretch of the E’ly fetch out of Cook Strait, so the resulting E/SE swell for Thursday will be a little smaller and a little later in its arrival than was suggested on Monday.
Plenty of surf this week but tricky winds for the next few days.
The second half of next week looks unreal.
Saturday should be OK though it may be a little lumpy and leftover from Friday’s winds.
On Sunday, a very long period (19-20+ second) S’ly groundswell - originating from a sneaky polar off the Ice Shelf south of SA this Wed and Thurs - is expected to make landfall across the Sydney region.
The models have ever so slightly delayed the backside phase of the Tasman Low for today, which means it’ll remain active for a little longer than anticipated in Wednesday’s notes, and will therefore provide good quality surf for more of the weekend.
A new Tasman Low is developing at the moment, and it will generate a fresh S/SE swell that’s expected to build throughout the day
A broad inland trough across the eastern states is slowly shifting eastwards. It’s freshening NE winds about the Southern NSW coast but ultimately won’t generate much quality surf over the next few days, owing to a lack of strength in the surface wind field.
