Eastern Tasmanian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 28th August)

Best Days: Monday semi-protected spots, Tuesday morning

Recap

Not much in the way of swell yesterday with a tiny N/NE windswell, while today there was a small hint of new S’ly swell with the peak in energy due this afternoon. The alignment of this frontal system turned even less favourable than forecast Wednesday but we’ll hopefully see sets to 2-3ft on the magnets.

This weekend and next week (Aug 29 - Sep 4)

The cold front responsible for the small kick in S’ly swell today moved off quick to the east and as a result we’ll see the size dropping rapidly tomorrow. We’ll be lucky to see 1-2ft sets on the south magnets early and more so the northern end of the coast, tiny to the south.

Into Sunday we’ll see a strong approaching mid-latitude low generating strong N/NW winds down the coast, but the fetch is too poorly aimed to generate any significant size from the north. It’ll instead be side-glancing energy that may reach 2ft on the north magnets late.

The swell prospects from the low once it passes are much better, with a good fetch of strong to gale-force S/SW winds generated up past us.

This should generate a good spike of mid-period S’ly swell Monday to 3-4ft across the south magnets, smaller in other spots. The longevity of the swell will be improved owing to a tail of weaker S/SW winds extending down to the polar shelf.

This should see Tuesday easing from a fun 2-3ft or so.

Looking at the local conditions and Monday looks less than ideal as the front pushes up past us bringing fresh SW tending weaker S/SW-S winds. Tuesday then looks great but get in early with W/NW tending N/NW winds.

Following the front linked to Monday/Tuesday’s swell, we’ll see a high move in and sit across the Tasman Sea as mid-latitude storms push up and across WA. This will direct persistent N/NE-N winds down through the Tasman Sea, producing small levels of N/NE windswell mid-late next week.

More on this Monday though. Have a great weekend!