South Australian Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Friday July 19th)

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

Mid Coast

• Stormy conditions on Sat, with small waves metro beaches
• Easing winds but strong surf persisting Sun, looking best Mon with temp light winds
• Plenty of swell for the rest of the week but Tues/Wed look wind affected; Thurs may offer cleaner conditions

South Coast

• Building stormy surf Sat
• Much better from Sun thru' until next week as winds hold from the NW
• Mon/Tues will see a peak in size, but plenty of surf expected for the rest of the week

Recap

Small easing swells down south on Thursday with abating onshore winds early, swinging offshore into the afternoon. A small new W/SW swell lifted surf size to around 2ft on the Mid Coast (see below) and conditions were generally clean with light onshore winds. Today’s seen gale force N/NE winds flatten out the South Coast and a decent NW stormy build across the Mid Coast, with 3-4ft sets across the reefs and small waves at metro beaches. 

Empty Thursday lunchtime lines on the Mid Coast

Decent size for a NW stormy

Small waves on the metro beaches too

This weekend (Jul 20 - 21)

An approaching cold front is due to cross the gulf around 9pm this evening, bringing gale force W/SW winds to all regions. They’ll gradually ease through Saturday but for all intents and purposes we’re looking at a proper stormy on the Mid, with 3-5ft surf at most breaks and plenty of small bumpy waves across metro locations.

Saturday won’t be any good down south with strong cross-onshore winds and building size into the 3-4ft range at Middleton. Surf size could punch a little higher here (it's a very strong system after all), but I fear the strong westerly component in the swell direction will limit size along the South Coast. Expect bigger waves at exposed spots but they’ll be horribly wind affected anyway.

Sunday looks better for both coasts with winds straightening up from the NW, which will clean conditions up along the South Coast. 4-5ft sets across the Middleton stretch should also produce good waves in the Chiton region though it’ll be smaller owing to the continuing dominant W’ly swell direction. Exposed spots will be much bigger but finding workable options will require some creative thinking.

Sunday on the Mid’s looking OK; winds won’t be great but they should throttle right back allowing lumpy conditions to prevail under a moderate NW flow. Expect 3-4ft surf at most breaks with small peaks on the metro beaches for beginners.

Next week (Jul 22 onwards)

Still no major changes to the outlook for early next week.

A peak in this swell cycle is expected on Monday and we’re looking at strong surf in the 4ft range along the Mid, reaching 4-6ft at Middleton (and up to 8ft at exposed bombies). Winds will remain from the NW - in fact we’re expecting the wind direction to hold from this direction all week - so it’ll be clean at Victor, but Monday’s looking to offer the best conditions of the week along the Mid with light breezes. There’ll probably still be a wobble through the lineup from the weekend’s onshore airstream but at this stage Monday is shaping up very nicely indeed.

Surf size will ease on Tuesday and a squeeze of the pressure gradient thanks to an approaching front will freshen N/NW winds across both coasts, which will probably bump up the Mid Coast (3ft sets) with better options at Victor (easing from Modnay afternoon’s peak).

Strong frontal activity at the tail end of the large Southern Ocean system this weekend and early next week will then maintain fun smaller surf through the second half of the week. The Mid Coast is unlikely to drop below 2ft and should push back up into the 2-3ft range at times (Thursday looking like having the best combo of size and favourable local winds). 

Victor should maintain 3-4ft surf at Middleton for the rest of the week with a small bump into Thursday afternoon and Friday.

In fact next weekend looks like it’ll maintain this wintry trend with similar NW conditions and moderate W/SW groundswells throughout the state. 

Have a great weekend!