Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Tue 23rd Sep)

Best Days: Every day over the coming period

This week and weekend (Sep 24 - 28)

After a slowish couple of days, a good new long-range SW groundswell is currently on the build with exposed breaks due to reach an easy 6-8ft through the afternoon if not a touch bigger on dark.

A secondary more consistent SW groundswell pulse tomorrow looks a little stronger than forecast on Thursday with the front that generated it, pushing high up through the Indian Ocean, now expected to provide a swell to 8ft to occasionally 10ft at exposed breaks in Bali during the morning ahead of a steady downwards trend through the afternoon and further Thursday.

E/SE trades are expected to strengthen through tomorrow before easing through Thursday and becoming more variable Friday and Saturday.

A low point in swell activity is due Friday morning, but there should still be good 4-5ft+ sets at exposed spots especially with the morning variable winds.

A strong and late kick in large S/SW groundswell is due ahead of a peak Saturday morning.

This swell was generated by a deep polar low forming south-east of South Africa on Saturday and projecting a fetch of 40-50kt SW winds towards us before pushing east towards WA.

An inconsistent but strong long-period SW groundswell has resulted, pulsing late Friday to 6-8ft+ across exposed breaks before peaking early Saturday to 8-10ft. From here the swell will ease steadily, down from 6-8ft Sunday and further from 4-5ft+ Monday morning.

Next week onwards (Sep 29 onwards)

Monday afternoon will be another low point in activity, but it will only be temporary with a good consistent S/SW groundswell due into Tuesday.

This will be generated by a strong polar front being projected from the Heard Island region up towards us over the coming days under the influence of a strong node (peak) of the Long Wave Trough.

With the front pushing up close to us, the swell will have a lot more consistency than Friday/Saturday's pulse and should come in at 6-8ft+ across exposed breaks under moderate E/SE trades.

The easing trend through the week will be softened by a series of weaker trailing fronts behind the initial strong system, with weak E/SE trades due to persist through the resy of the week.

16 day Bali Forecast Graph
16 day East Java Forecast Graph
16 day Sumbawa Forecast Graph