South Australian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday January 26th)

Best Days: Keen surfers Sunday morning South Coast (beginners Mid Coast), Monday morning South Coast

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Variable tending sea breezey winds Thu, light-mod S/SE tending fresher S/SW-SW Fri
• Building SW groundswell late Sat, peaking Sun with freshening SE tending S/SE winds Sat and moderate E/SE tending S/SE winds Sun
• Easing swell Mon with variable NE tending S/SE winds
• Easing surf Tue with gusty S/SW winds
• Onshore winds for the rest of next week with a junky S-S/SE windswell

Recap

Generally tiny surf yesterday and today across both coasts but an infrequent pulse of new mid-period W/SW swell has offered 1ft sets on the Mid Coast yesterday afternoon and this morning, 1-1.5ft down South this morning with a variable breeze.

This week and next (Jan 27 - 30)

The inconsistent pulse of mid-period W/SW swell seen through yesterday afternoon and today will fade into the end of the week and we'll see a broad trough with multiple centres that's been sitting west of us, drifting east.

This will bring a deterioration in local winds, but tomorrow morning looks clean with variable breezes, giving into afternoon sea breezes while Friday looks to see a light to moderate S/SE breeze increasing from the S/SW-SW into the afternoon and evening.

A high will edge in from the west during the weekend, shifting winds SE Saturday morning before freshening from the S/SE into the afternoon. Very late in the day we may see hints of a new inconsistent SW groundswell across both regions (though hidden under localised S/SE windswell on the South Coast).

The polar low linked to this swell has formed around the Heard Island region and is generating a heathy fetch of gale to severe-gale W'ly winds through our swell window while tracking east. It'll break down south of Western Australia tomorrow evening, leaving the swell to travel up and towards us for Sunday.

It'll be inconsistent but sets to 3-4ft are due across Middleton on Sunday with the swell likely to peak through the middle of the day/afternoon. The Mid Coast should see 1ft+ waves on the favourable parts of the tide.

Winds will remain unfavourable for the South Coast but improve slightly, tending light to moderate E/SE Sunday morning ahead of S/SE sea breezes, cleaner Monday with a variable NE breeze as the swell eases from the 3ft range across Middleton.

A small low will move through during the day though, bringing S/SW winds which will then strengthen into Tuesday as a big, broad high slowly moves in. This will bring poor winds and surf for the rest of the week, blocking our swell windows along with strong S'ly winds Tuesday, shifting S/SE Wednesday and Thursday.

There unfortunately doesn't look to be any decent swell for the Mid Coast with a couple of 1ft pulses, but more on this Friday.