South Australian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday June 21st)

Best Days: Today, tomorrow morning both coasts, Sunday South Coast, South Coast Tuesday and Wednesday, possibly Thursday morning Mid Coast but more so South Coast

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Easing W/SW swell tomorrow with light local offshore winds ahead of sea breezes
• Small-moderate sized SW groundswell arriving later tomorrow, peaking Sun AM, easing, small Mon
• Fresh and at times gusty N/NE tending N/NW winds Sun, stronger N/NW Mon
• Large W/SW-SW swell for Tue with strong W/NW-NW winds, easing Wed with gusty NW winds
• Likely smaller Thu with N winds

Recap

The surf was average across both coasts yesterday morning but improved into the afternoon across the Mid Coast as a new W/SW swell filled in and winds became lighter from the N/NE.

Today is the pick though with clean conditions and 2ft+ sets across the Mid Coast, fun and 3ft down South with favourable winds due most of the day in the gulf.

Cracking surf this morning

This weekend and next week (Jun 22 - 28)

Looking at the weekend ahead and Sunday is the pick, with tomorrow offering easing levels of swell from today along with local offshore winds and weak sea breezes.

The Mid Coast looks to back off to a less consistent 1-2ft with Middleton easing back from 2-3ft.

Later in the day tomorrow but more so Sunday morning, a fun pulse of new SW groundswell is due.

The source has been a good fetch of strong to gale-force W/NW winds moving in from the Indian Ocean tracking east-southeast through our swell window.

The Mid Coast only looks to come in at 1ft but Middleton should see good 2-3ft waves through the morning, easing into the afternoon and then down from 1-2ft on Monday.

Fresh N/NE tending N/NW winds should create great conditions all day down South Sunday, with less favourable, strong N/NW winds into Monday.

Now, from Tuesday we’ve got a very dynamic and tricky outlook, but with tons of swell.

This is due to a mid-latitude low moving in from across Western Australia, stalling in the Bight early next week while generating various fetches of strong to gale-force S/SW-SW winds aimed mainly north into the Eyre Peninsula rather than the Mid and South Coasts.

In saying this we’ll see large levels of W/SW-SW swell spreading out radially from its source, with it but to fill in Tuesday, then easing off slowly through Wednesday as the low slowly weakens.

Thanks to the fact that the low will set west of us through nearly the entire swell, persistent W/NW-NW winds will be seen with this swell (strong Tuesday) creating choppy surf on the Mid Coast which looks to come in at 3-4ft Tuesday, easing from 3ft Wednesday. Victor looks to come in more around 4-5ft at the peak of the swell Tuesday and with the cleanest conditions , easing Wednesday with some follow up energy possible from the backside of the low Thursday with more N’ly winds.

With such a dynamic system we’ll have to reassess the outlook on Monday. Have a great weekend!