South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 19th May)

Best Days: Saturday South Coast, Monday swell magnets South Coast, Mid Coast Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning, South Coast Tuesday onwards

Recap

A tiny pulse of W'ly swell sneaking into the Mid Coast yesterday from westerly winds in the Bight, reaching 1ft with offshore winds. The South Coast was small to tiny and north-east winds favoured some spots over others.

Today the Mid was back to a tiny 0.5ft, and the South Coast small, but a new swell has since started to fill in, providing fun waves across most spots with a light offshore wind.

This weekend and next week (May 20 – 26)

The S/SW groundswell due into this afternoon should peak this evening/overnight and ease back through tomorrow, tiny into Sunday.

Middleton should see 2ft sets tomorrow morning with more size at Waits and Parsons, with no major size left at all into Sunday. The Mid Coast will be tiny tomorrow, but a front pushing under WA and through the Bight this evening and tomorrow morning should kick up a late pulse of size Sunday to 1-1.5ft, peaking Monday morning to 1-2ft.

Coming back to conditions tomorrow though and a NW breeze will swing more N/NW through the day, keeping conditions relatively clean, while Sunday will see N/NW winds all day.

Fresher N'ly tending NW breezes are expected on Monday with the small W/SW swell. The Mid may see an early N/NE'ly, but besides this conditions will be bumpy.

The South Coast isn't due too see much size from this W/SW swell, with tiny waves early, increasing to 2ft through the afternoon at Middleton on the sets.

Some better aligned W/SW swell energy is due from Tuesday though as a broader and more southern fetch of strong W/SW winds project through the Bight Sunday and Monday, strengthening through Tuesday producing even more size for Wednesday.

Looking at Tuesday though and we should see the Mid Coast coming in at a consistent 2ft although with moderate W/NW winds. The South Coast looks fun with 2-3ft sets off Middleton, muscling up a little more in size through the afternoon.

Come Wednesday, Middleton should provide good 3ft+ sets with continuing 2ft waves on the Mid Coast (possibly the odd bigger one in the mix). A persistent W/NW breeze will continue to favour the South Coast, but the Mid will be fun for keen surfers.

Lighter N'ly winds across the Mid Coast should create cleaner conditions Thursday as the swell eases from 2ft, while the South Coast will be great and clean all day.

Longer term we're likely to see some additional mid-latitude fronts moving in late week, generating more swell for later next week/weekend, but more on this Monday. Have a great weekend!