Eastern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Guy Dixon (issued Friday 4th March)

Best Days: Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings.

Recap:

Thursday offered pretty forgettable conditions, with a small and weak northeast swell to around 1-2ft under an onshore airflow throughout the day.

Southeasterly groundswell has been the predominant source of swell today however, with options in the 2-3ft range at most beaches. Conditions remained clean until mid-late morning under a northwesterly breeze before eventually givingway to a northeasterly seabreeze.

This weekend (Saturday 5th - Sunday 6th):

Today’s southeasterly swell which was generated by an east/southeasterly fetch off the backside of a low which deepened south of New Zealand earlier in the week and is likely to fade from the 2-3ft range throughout Saturday.

As this swell eases further on Sunday, a small amount of east/northeasterly trade energy should grace the open beaches steered by an extension of a ridge out from behind the swell shadow of New Zealand’s North Island.

Sunday should see options breaking in the 1-2ft range, accompanied by a northeasterly swell of a similar size (which increased late on Saturday afternoon) generated by a northeasterly fetch off the South Coast of NSW.

A light westerly breeze should prevail from the early morning across eastern Tasmania preceding a moderate southerly change. Once this change moves through, protected southern corners will be offering the cleanest options.

A light north/northwesterly breeze should have become established by Sunday morning, leading to clean workable conditions across most locations, preceding a northeasterly seabreeze.

Next week (Monday 7th onward):

The southern swell windows then look to become more active into next week, although the alignment of frontal activity is less than ideal. A fresh pulse of groundswell is due to build late on Sunday and peak on Monday, but only the most exposed south swell magnets will see hints of energy due to the westerly component of the swell.

This will largely be the case for most southerly energy into next week, however models are suggesting a brief intensification of a northeasterly fetch along the coast of NSW into next week.

Although the southern extension of this fetch swings offshore as opposed to pushing into the coast of Tassie, open beaches should still see small options out of the northeast of around 2ft late on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

Winds are not looking to cooperate on Tuesday, swinging from the southeast to the northeast throughout the day, although improving by Wednesday morning.