Eastern Tasmanian Surf Forecast by Steve Shearer (issued Fri Jan7)

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• S swell pulse mixed with leftover NE swell Sat with S'ly winds
• Small leftovers Sun with light winds
• Tiny surf from Mon-Thurs
• Small E swell likely from Fri next week

Recap

Strong, stormy locally generated E/NE swell rose into the 6ft range yesterday across NE Tas, with fresh E/NE winds accompanying the swell. Size has continued to increase into today with solid 6-8ft surf, 10ft at more exposed locations on offer. Winds dropped out a bit and are now light N’ly, allowing some surfable locations to be utilised.

This weekend and next week (Jan7-Jan14)

Surf drops off quickly through Sat with the fetch responsible for the swell being quickly shunted away to the E and a trough bringing a S’ly change (see below).

Expect leftover 4ft surf from the NE in the morning, being overlapped by new S swell through the a’noon in the 3-4ft range, with mod/fresh S’ly winds on offer. 

The trough is short-lived, being whisked away quickly to the E on Sun, with a large high slipping in under the state and bringing a weak ridge, which will see S’ly winds ease, then tend variable before an a’noon NE sea-breeze develops. 

Leftover S swell will see some 2-3ft surf Sun morning, easing during the day. Best conditions will be once the S’ly eases and winds become variable.

The rest of next week looks uneventful for the East Coast. A weak trough brings a slight bump in S swell Tues but its short period, weak stuff and unlikely to exceed 1-2ft.

High pressure slides under the Island next week, with a regime of light E’ly breezes extending through the week. 

An E to E/NE fetch develops off the South Coast later next week. At present it looks quite weak with windspeeds nothing to speak about.

In the absence of any other swell producing systems (current tropical developments are too far north for Tasmania) this fetch is likely to see small amounts of 1-2ft E/NE swell developing Fri and extending into Sat.

Check back in on Mon and hopefully we will have better news.

Have a a great weekend.