South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 24th December)

Best Days: Keen surfers South Coast tomorrow mid-late morning, South Coast mid-late morning Wednesday, Thursday South Coast - Mid Coast for keen surfers later Wednesday, Thursday AM and Sunday AM

Recap

Poor surf on Saturday with a small, weak onshore swell, while Sunday was cleaner but the surf minimal, only really surfable at Waits and Parsons for the desperate. The Mid Coast was clean but tiny to flat.

Today our new groundswell has filled in with great conditions down South and sets to 3ft off Middleton, though a little inconsistent at times. The Mid Coast is tiny and isn't likely to offer much over 1ft through the day. Winds should remain favourable most of the afternoon across the South Coast, tending variable out of the western quadrant if anything.

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This week and weekend (Dec 25 - 30)

Today's building SW swell is expected to peak this afternoon, easing off slowly through tomorrow, smaller into Wednesday but a reinforcing W/SW swell should provide some fun waves into Thursday morning.

Winds are looking are now looking to be light and variable tomorrow morning, so conditions won't be perfect but fun with easing 3ft sets along the Middleton stretch (best mid-late morning as any early morning lump settles a little), and 1ft on the Mid Coast. Afternoon sea breezes are expected across both coasts, so try and surf before lunch.

Wednesday will see favourable E/NE-NE winds develop down South through the morning though we're looking at smaller 2ft sets off Middleton.

Into the afternoon though our new mid-period W/SW swell should fill in, with it currently being generated by a broad but weak mid-latitude front that's south of WA.

This swell looks more favourable for the Mid Coast with building sets to 1-1.5ft, easing from a similar size Thursday, with Middleton coming in at 2-3ft.

Afternoon sea breezes will create bumpy conditions as this new swell builds Wednesday afternoon, but the Mid will likely see winds go S/SE late, and Thursday looks great with a hot offshore N/NE tending N/NW breeze ahead of a shallow S/SW change mid-late afternoon.

With the shallow change Friday looks OK again but not perfect with a lighter E'ly breeze down South but smaller easing 1-2ft sets max off Middleton.

The weekend isn't looking too flash at all with a low point in swell Saturday and strengthening S/SE winds, persisting from the S'th Sunday.

A small new pulse of mid-period W/SW swell is due Sunday, but it won't favour the South Coast with it being quite west in nature.

A small weak front pushing up and along the WA South Coast should generate 1-1.5ft waves on the Mid Coast Sunday, with a little front ahead of it likely generating 0.5-1ft waves on Saturday. The South Coast looks to remain small and to 2ft+ off Middleton but poor with that wind.

Longer term smaller swells and winds from the southern quadrant look to spoil the South Coast, so make the most of the current conditions. Merry Christmas!