South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 26th November)

Best Days: South Coast Friday morning and Saturday, protected spots down South Sundaty morning

Recap

Improving and the best day of surf for the South Coast on Saturday with variable E-NE winds and a peaky though weak S/SE windswell. Sunday was poor and onshore.

The Mid Coast was clean but tiny to flat. Today was smaller and with lingering onshores down South, flat on the Mid again.

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This week and weekend (Nov 27 – Dec 2)

We've got poor surf due most of the week with persistent onshore winds and no significant groundswell until late week.

A combination of a slow moving high in from the west and an inland mid-latitude low squeezing its eastern flank will see persistent onshore S/SE winds across the South Coast from tomorrow through Thursday, strongest Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, producing 2-3ft of junky S'ly windswell.

A fun new mid-period SW swell is expected to show later Thursday and peak Friday morning, ahead of a stronger W/SW groundswell late in the day and more so Saturday.

Friday's swell is being generated by a relatively weak but decent polar fetch of strong to gale-force W/SW winds south-west of WA.

This should produce a fun pulse of size to 2ft to occasionally 3ft off Middleton and 1ft+ on the favourable parts of the tide on the Mid Coast.

Conditions should become cleaner with a light morning E/NE breeze ahead of S/SE sea breezes.

Later in the day and more so Saturday a stronger W/SW groundswell is due, generated by a longer-lived and stronger frontal system developing east of Heard Island producing a great fetch of W/SW gales while projecting east towards us tomorrow and Wednesday, weakening into the evening.

Middleton should provide good 3ft+ waves (4ft sets off Goolwa) with the Mid Coast seeing 1-2ft sets on the favourable parts of the tide.

The South Coast will offer the cleanest conditions as a vigorous front approaching from the west brings fresh N/NE tending stronger NW winds ahead of a late afternoon W/SW change.

This change will linked to a vigorous low pushing in from under the country and secondary vigorous polar frontal system projecting north-east towards us, owing to a strong node of the Long Wave Trough forming in the Bight and bringing an increase in Southern Ocean storm activity.

We'll see moderate to large swells off these systems with winds from the south-western quadrant at first before swinging to the east on the backside of the swell event, but check back here Wednesday for a much clearer idea on the swell events this weekend and early next week.