Eastern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Steve Shearer (issued Mon February 12)

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• N/NE windswell for Mon, stronger Tue with strong N/NE winds
• Easing N/NE windswell Wed with W winds, tending SW then SE in the a’noon
• Small E/NE swells  Thurs/Fri- just rideable on Fri with NW winds
• Fun E/NE swells filtering down from tradewinds next weekend
• S swell spike Mon , easing Tues
• More NE windswell likely mid next week, check back Wed for latest updates

Recap

Strong S swell Sat in the 4-5ft range at S facing beaches with S tending E winds. Size eased Sun into the 2ft range with N-N/NE winds. NE windswell has built today into the 2-3ft range with N/NW winds. 

This week and next week (Feb 12 - 23)

Not much change from the way things looked on Friday. Large high in the Tasman directing plenty of E’ly-SE’ly tradewinds through the Coral Sea and South Pacific slot and a strong N’ly flow off the South Coast, generating NE windswells for NETas. Typical summer wind pattern with NE winds off the NSW South Coast . A moderate front and trough disrupts the pattern mid week before the next reinforcing high resets the ridge late this week while small troughs off NETas bring local wind shifts. To the north the monsoon trough remains active but there’s no real developments which impact our surf potential as far as cyclones go in the short/medium term. 

In the short run we’ll see healthy levels of NE windswell through tomorrow, with mostly NW winds although they may tend fresh N/NW through the middle of the day. Size in the 2-3ft range early should reach 3-4ft in the a’noon.

Get in early Wed morning as a front brings W-W/SW winds and easing levels of NE windswell are on tap, in the 2-3ft range early. Winds will shift SW then S’ly with the passage of the front.

A couple small days to wind up the week with some minor E/NE swell filtering down from the tradewind fetch, in the 1-1.5ft range Thurs, a notch bigger with 2ft sets on Fri. Winds should be OK to good, NW to W/NW with patches of N/NW winds through the day.

Into the weekend and fun E/NE swell from the tropics offers some inconsistent 2ft sets on Sat with light/variable winds.

Similar sized Sun with variable winds which may tend SE as a trough hovers about the NE of the state.

Looking into next week and we see a moderate front pass under the state later Sun into Mon bringing a spike of S swell through Mon, pushing up into the 3-4ft range at S facing beaches with winds from the S-S/SE.
Surf eases quickly through Tues with leftovers to 2-3ft early dropping back to less than 2ft through the morning. 

Another round of NE windswell looks likely mid next week as a new high pressure cell moves East of the state.

Let’s see how it looks on Wed.