South Australian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday August 12th)

Best Days: Protected spots South Coast tomorrow morning, South Coast Sunday, Mid Coast for the keen Tuesday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Fading W swell on the weekend
• Moderate sized + S'ly swell tomorrow with early W/NW tending fresh W/SW-SW winds mid-late AM
• Easing S'ly swell Sun with light W/NW tending W/SW winds
• Small to tiny leftover swell Mon with gusty N/NW tending W winds
• Weak W/SW windswell building later Mon on the Mid, easing Tue with variable winds

Recap

Small but clean waves to 1-2ft across Middleton yesterday, 1-2ft on the Mid Coast but choppy with gusty winds out of the north.

The surf is similar in size down South but bumpy and choppy with gusty W/NW winds, while the Mid Coast is 2ft but being wrecked by a fresh onshore breeze. The window of variable winds unfortunately didn't develop, as is the tricky nature of these mid-latitude lows.

This weekend and next week (Aug 13 - 19)

The outlook for the weekend revolves around the local winds for the South Coast as a moderate sized + S'ly swell fills in.

As expected we're looking at decent conditions in protected spots as the backside of a broad low that's sitting south of us, kinks around across the Adelaide region, bringing in local W/NW breezes around Victor Harbor, shifting W/SW-SW and freshening through mid-late morning tomorrow.

The Mid Coast will be onshore and average with easing 1-2ft sets.

Looking at the source of the S'ly swell for the South Coast and a great fetch of strong to gale-force S/SE winds are being generated through our southern swell window, to the south of us today and this should produce a decent kick in size tomorrow to 4-5ft across most locations and with that early W/NW breeze.

The easing trend will be steady Sunday, dropping from 3-4ft in the morning and with a light W/NW breeze again down South, tiny on the Mid and with variable winds. Winds are only due to swing lighter W/SW down South into the afternoon, creating a great day of surf as the S'ly swell eases.

Now moving into next week winds will freshen from the N/NW Monday ahead of a shallow W'ly change as the north-western flank of the low strengthens while moving in and across us.

Size wise the South Coast will be small to tiny, weak and fading from 1-2ft. A lay day for most but good for beginners.

Some weak W/SW swell will be generated for the Mid Coast on Tuesday but only to 1-1.5ft as winds ease and possibly become more variable. The South Coast won't see any size from the weak W/SW fetch and for the remainder of the week we've got no major swell sources due until late week and more so next weekend.

Now before we get too excited the models are still swapping and changing on the incoming frontal activity but it looks like we'll see an initial strong mid-latitude low/front followed by some better Southern Ocean activity. More on this Monday. Have a great weekend!