South Australian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday July 29th)

Best Days: South Coast this morning, both coasts tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday, South Coast Friday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Fading swell into tomorrow AM, ahead of a new W'ly swell later, easing Wed
• N/NE tending variable winds tomorrow, similar Wed
• Strong pulse of W/SW groundswell later Wed, peaking Thu AM, easing
• E/NE-NE tending variable winds on the Mid Thu, N/NE tending variable down South
• Strengthening N/NE-N winds on Fri with easing surf
• Moderate sized + W/SW swell building Sat with W/NW winds, easing Sun with W/NW tending SW winds

Recap

Our good pulse of W’ly swell filled in on the weekend with lumpy/bumpy conditions seen on Saturday, improving through Sunday inside the gulf with, cleaner faces to 2ft under a variable breeze (average on the morning high tide). The South Coast was also lumpy and best around Victor with 3-4ft sets.

This morning the surf has faded away across both regions, best across the magnets on the South Coast.

This week and weekend (Jul 29 - Aug 4)

These notes will be brief today as Steve covers the Olympic surfing event.

The current swell will continue to ease, bottoming out tomorrow morning as a N/NE offshore creates clean conditions on the exposed beaches. 

Into the afternoon, our small pulse of W/SW swell is due, generated by a tricky aligned frontal system drifting south-east from the WA region.

The Mid Coast should see 1-2ft sets later, easing from a similar size Wednesday while the South Coast only looks to come in at 2ft across Middleton. Variable afternoon winds should create decent conditions tomorrow afternoon, with N/NE tending variable winds again Wednesday as it eases.

Of greater significance is the moderate to large sized pulse of W/SW groundswell for later Wednesday and Thursday morning.

The significant frontal progression linked to it is currently to the south-west of Western Australia, with a great fetch of severe-gale to storm-force W/SW winds being projected through our western swell window.

The size and strength of the progression is great and we should see the forerunners arriving through Wednesday, with a strong, late increase in size due, peaking overnight/early Thursday and then easing through the day.

The Mid Coast should come in at 3ft+ later Wednesday and Thursday morning with the South Coast offering 4-6ft surf off Middleton more so early Thursday with those light afternoon winds, N/NE tending NE on Thursday down South and E/NE-NE tending variable across the Mid Coast.

Friday is a tricky one with the swell easing as winds strengthen from the N/NE to N’th, favouring the South Coast and creating choppy conditions inside the gulf as the swell fades.

Come the weekend, a fun pulse of reinforcing W/SW swell is due Saturday afternoon, easing Sunday, generated by a weaker frontal system on the backside of the strong storm currently off WA. 

The Mid Coast should pulse back to 2-3ft during Saturday afternoon and Sunday, with Middleton coming in at 3ft+ along with W/NW to SW winds on the latter.

Longer term the Indian Ocean remains active but closer to us, it’s a bit quieter. Therefore make the most of the coming week of surf.