South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 31st August)

Best Days: South Coast tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, Mid Coast Friday and Saturday, South Coast all weekend

Recap

Firstly congrats to Gouds for coming out of retirement and taking out the Yorkes Classic on Saturday. The surf was great with Friday afternoon's S/SW groundswell easing under freshening offshore winds, ironing out some early morning lump.

Todd Goudie on the way to a win at the Yorkes Classic. Photo: Andy Smyth

Sunday was clean in protected spots but much smaller in size.

The Mid Coast was cleaner Saturday and back to 1-1.5ft on the magnets, small and choppy yesterday.

Today conditions were average down South early with onshore winds in the wake of a change, though these have since eased, better on the Mid with a lumpy 2ft of swell.

This week and weekend (Sep 1 –  6)

Today's mix of swells from a cold front pushing through yesterday will drop rapidly into tomorrow and another approaching mid-latitude frontal progression will swing winds quickly back around to the N/NE, fresh and holding all day. The South Coast looks to ease from 2-3ft, tiny on the Mid Coast and wind affected.

Later in the day but more so Wednesday a new inconsistent W/SW groundswell is due to fill in, generated by a severe though distant low that moved through the southern Indian Ocean later last week and on the weekend.

Due to the large travel distance there'll be a lot of swell decay and loss of consistency but we should see infrequent 3ft sets developing across Middleton through the afternoon, with 1ft to possibly 2ft sets on the Mid Coast though moderate to fresh NW-W/NW winds will favour the South Coast.

This shift in wind will be linked to the mid-latitude frontal progression edging in and we're set to see a mix of building and large westerly swells into the end of the week, with less size for the South Coast.

Initially the mid-latitude setup will be weak with a fetch of patchy W'ly winds moving through the Bight tomorrow evening and Wednesday. The swell from this is expected Thursday with 2ft waves on the Mid Coast, 2ft to possibly 3ft across the Middleton stretch.

A much stronger front pushing in during Wednesday afternoon and Thursday will generate a better fetch of W/SW gales through the Bight, moving across us Thursday afternoon.

The front itself will kick up some localised windswell Thursday afternoon to 3ft on the Mid Coast and to a similar size across Middleton ahead of the groundswell Friday to 3ft+ on the Mid Coast and a similar 3ft+ across Middleton.

Winds will be poor for the Mid through this period though and strengthening from the NW tending W/NW Thursday, better Friday and moderate to fresh but easing W/NW tending W winds. The afternoon will be the pick in the gulf. The South Coast will likely see winds go more SW through the morning.

Moving into the weekend, Friday's W/SW groundswell will tail away but a reinforcing W/SW groundswell is due, generated today and tomorrow by a distant low forming east of the Heard Island region. A good fetch of gale to severe-gale W/SW-SW winds will be produced before the storm pushes up and under WA (generating Friday's swell).

The swell should peak Saturday morning to an inconsistent 3-4ft across Middleton, with inconsistent 2-3ft sets on the Mid Coast. Conditions will also improve, light NE on the Mid before tending N/NW with NW tending W/NW winds down South. Sunday will be best down South as winds freshen from the N/NE.

Longer term there's plenty more mid-latitude frontal activity and westerly swells on the way but more on this Wednesday.