South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday 11th December)

Best Days: Novelty Mid Coast waves tomorrow AM, South Coast magnets Sunday morning, Monday morning, magnets Tuesday morning

Recap

Poor, tiny and onshore waves on the South Coast yesterday, a touch bigger today but still poor.

The Mid Coast was tiny yesterday, while an inconsistent new long-range W/SW groundswell is providing 0.5-1ft sets today that should perform a little better into the afternoon.

This week and weekend (Dec 12 - 15)

With the inconsistent W/SW groundswell due for tomorrow across the Mid Coast showing today, there's no upgrade in size due tomorrow, with tiny and inconsistent 1ft sets likely to persist, possibly a touch bigger on the favourable parts of the tide.

The South Coast will be poor with a weak S'ly windswell and moderate to fresh S'ly winds, S/SE on the Mid Coast ahead of S/SW sea breezes, back to the S/SE late.

Moderate onshore S'ly winds will continue to create average conditions on the South Coast Friday along with a small S/SW swell to 1-2ft off Middleton, tiny on the Mid Coast.

The weekend isn't looking much better with onshore SW winds due to persist on Saturday with a small mix of swells maxing at 2ft across Middleton, tiny on the Mid Coast. Sunday is looking nice and clean with a N/NE offshore wind, but size wise, there'll only be 2ft set waves off Middleton, hopefully more around the 3ft range at Waits and Parsons.

Into the afternoon and more so Monday morning, a new inconsistent SW groundswell is expected, generated by a tight and strong low forming north of Heard Island yesterday. This system is now transforming into a fetch of W/NW gales, pushing east-southeast through our distant swell window.

The storm will weaken slowly south-southwest of WA tomorrow, with the inconsistent groundswell due to arrive Sunday afternoon, possibly kicking to 2-3ft by dark off Middleton, 0.5-1ft on the Mid Coast and peaking Monday morning to an inconsistent 3ft off Middleton and 1ft on the sets across the Mid Coast. Expect waits for the best ones, so patience is the key.

Conditions look favourable for both coasts again on Monday morning with straight local offshore winds before the sea breeze kicks in, N/NE on Tuesday as the swell fades.

Longer term we may see a fun, small W/SW swell later next week, but we'll have a closer look at this on Friday.