South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 22nd February)

Best Days: Saturday morning South Coast, keen surfers magnets South Coast Sunday morning, beginners Mid Coast Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, South Coast keen surfers Thursday morning

Recap

Average surf yesterday morning across the South Coast, better into the afternoon with a new swell on the build, tiny and weak on the Mid Coast.

Today conditions improved but were still lumpy off the South Coast with waves to 3ft at Middleton, still tiny on the Mid Coast.

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This weekend and next week (Feb 23 - 28)

Our current mix of mid-period and smaller inconsistent long-period swell are due to ease off gradually through the weekend, with workable winds tomorrow, better Sunday but with less size and power.

A morning E/NE breeze will create peaky and lumpy conditions down South with easing 2ft+ sets off Middleton, tiny on the Mid Coast. The afternoon will be bumpy with sea breezes.

Sunday should see a N/NE-NE offshore but Middleton will be tiny, ideal for beginners with Waits coming in at 2ft+ if we're lucky.

As touched on last update there's nothing too significant on the cards for next week besides a small mid-period W/SW tending SW swell for later Tuesday and Wednesday.

This will be generated by a multi-staged storm that's currently south-west of WA, with an initial fetch of distant strong to gale-force W/SW winds due to be followed by a slow moving fetch of strong polar W/SW winds.

A very inconsistent W/SW groundswell should be seen Tuesday morning from the initial fetch, coming in at 1ft on the Mid , possibly 1.5ft into the afternoon though with very long waits between sets.

The secondary SW swell should peak Wednesday morning with 1ft to possibly 1.5ft sets continuing on the Mid and 2-3ft sets off Middleton. Winds are a problem though as a surface trough moves in from the west Tuesday afternoon bringing gusty S/SE winds, SE to S/SW on Wednesday.

Thursday looks cleaner with a more variable breeze though easing small 1-2ft waves off Middleton.

Longer term there's some better swell potential from later next weekend into the following week, but more on this Monday. Have a great weekend!