Eastern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Steve Shearer (issued Fri 20 August)

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small NE windswell Sat AM, rapidly fading PM
• Strong local S swell Wed/easing Thurs
• SE/ESE swell Thurs/Fri as Tasman low drifts towards New Zealand

Recap

Tiny leftovers yesterday in the North-east with a slight kick in NE windswell later today which should provide some small rideable waves into tomorrow. NW to N'ly winds are expected to tend W tomorrow.

This weekend and next week (Aug 20-27) 

Small kick in NE windswell today is expected to rapidly ease through tomorrow as a weak front shunts the fetch eastwards. That leaves tiny surf on offer through Sun, with the chance of a slight uptick in NE windswell Mon, though keep expectations very low because N’ly winds, though close to Tas are only in the swell window briefly. 

Better odds of rideable surf are on offer through Wed as a deep Tasman low moves off the Central NSW Coast and extends a fetch of S’ly strong winds adjacent to the Tas coastline. This proximate fetch should whip up a rapid rising short range S swell through Wed, but you’ll have to deal with local S’ly winds.

The low drifts away towards New Zealand through Wed/Thurs with SE winds on the lower flank of the cut-off low sufficiently low in latitude to be in the Nor-east Tas swell window. This will send a better angled and better quality SE/ESE swell towards Nor-east Tas through Thurs/Fri. Expect size in the 3-4ft range with a light SE wind. 

Longer term and zonal fronts are likely to be too high in latitude and W’ly biased to generate any surf for the north-east coast of Tas. Check back in on Mon for a fresh update.