South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday 24th October)

Best Days: South Coast tomorrow morning and early on the Mid Coast, South Coast Monday and Tuesday mornings

Recap

Onshore and a small choppy 2ft on the Mid Coast yesterday, building into the afternoon more to 3ft on the sets as winds tended cross-shore on dark.

The South Coast started a little slow but clean with 2-3ft sets off Middleton with a solid kick in size through the day to an easy 4ft off Middleton but with onshore winds.

This morning the Mid Coast was pumping with clean 2-3ft sets, a bit smaller and slower now, but we should see the incoming tide give a good pulse as winds remain favourable.

The South Coast was bumpy with a less than ideal E/NE breeze though still plenty of size in the 4ft range off Middleton.

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This week and weekend (Oct 25 – 28)

Today's mix of swells are due to start easing through this afternoon, further through tomorrow and Friday though our window of offshore winds is now looking limited tomorrow for the South Coast.

We should see a morning N/NE offshore, but a surface trough moving in from the west looks to bring an onshore S/SE change around midday/early afternoon (S/SW on the Mid Coast).

Size wise the South Coast should ease back from 3ft to possibly 4ft off Middleton tomorrow morning, back to a smaller 2-3ft into the afternoon, with easing 1-2ft sets on the Mid Coast on the favourable parts of the tide.

Friday isn't looking too flash with winds reverting back to the E and possibly E/NE down South for a period but with small leftover sets to 2ft off Middleton. The Mid Coast will also be tiny.

Similar winds are expected through Saturday but the swell will be tiny off Middleton with small leftovers at swell magnets.

An inland surface trough deepening across Western Australia isn't expected to develop into a mid-latitude low any more, but will still drift across us on Sunday bringing E'ly tending SE winds with no new swell due until the afternoon.

The source of this groundswell which is expected to peak Monday morning will be a distant and stalling polar fetch of W-W/NW gales east of Heard Island and south-west of Western Australia.

We should see fun 2-3ft sets as it peaks off Middleton Monday morning with tiny 1ft sets on the Mid Coast.

A slightly stronger longer-period SW groundswell is due into the late afternoon, peaking Tuesday, produced by a gale to severe-gale W/NW fetch projecting east-southeast in a similar area to the storm before it, but closer towards us.

This should provide better 3ft+ sets off Middleton, but be less favourable for the Mid and come in at 0.5-1ft. Winds should improve a little, tending E/NE-NE Monday morning and possible more N'th Tuesday but this depends on the development of another surface trough to our west tomorrow. We'll have a closer look at this on Friday though.