South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday 4th November)

Best Days: Mid Coast tomorrow and for the keen Friday morning, South Coast Sunday morning, South Coast Monday and Tuesday

Recap

Clean but tiny waves down South yesterday, flat on the Mid Coast with poor conditions across both coasts today with an onshore change.

This week and next (Nov 5 - Nov 11)

Today's change is linked to a surface trough moving through and we'll see it leave poor, fresh, onshore S'ly winds on the South Coast, while the Mid Coast should see morning S/SE winds, moderate to fresh in strength, swinging S/SW into the afternoon and back to the S/SE late.

Our new SW groundswell should be in the water as well, with it arriving late today and peaking through tomorrow. The Mid Coast should build to an inconsistent 2ft through the day, if not from dawn with the South Coast building to 4ft+.

Work the favourable parts of the tide for the most consistent sets and size on the Mid Coast.

The swell will drop into Friday to 1ft to possibly 2ft across the Mid Coast, while the South Coast should hold 3-4ft.

Secondary Southern Ocean fronts firing up in our swell window will generate reinforcing pulses of mid-period S/SW swell, the first for late Friday but more so Saturday with it forming south of WA this morning. A good fetch of pre-frontal W/NW strong to gale-force winds should keep Middleton around 3ft+ while the Mid Coast looks to struggle around 1ft+ owing to the southerly direction.

Later in the day Saturday but more so Sunday a slightly stronger S/SW swell is due, generated by a broad fetch of strong to gale-force W/SW winds moving through our southern swell window tomorrow afternoon and Friday.

Better 4ft sets are due across Middleton, though remaining tiny and to 1ft+ on the Mid Coast.

Coming back to the local winds and the Mid Coast will be the cleanest Friday with a morning S/SE breeze, shifting SW late morning, with lingering S/SW winds down South.

Average and fresh SE winds are on the cards for Saturday, not favourable at all for the South Coast, but improving Sunday as winds shift E/NE-NE. Aim for a mid-late morning surf when conditions should sort themselves out a bit more ahead of E/SE-SE sea breezes.

Into next week, we'll see Sunday's swell slowly ease but winds will improve further as a high moves in, swinging winds NE Monday and stronger N/NE on Tuesday. The easing trend will be slowed by lingering fetches behind the frontal system the next two days, with Middleton expected to slowly drop from 3ft to possibly 4ft, down from 2ft+ Tuesday.

Longer term a deep mid-latitude low looks to form in the Bight early next week, generating a moderate to large sized W/SW swell mid-late week, but more on this Friday.