South Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday December 6th)

Best Days: Today Mid Coast and South Coast ahead of afternoon sea breezes, Mid Coast tomorrow for the keen and early Thursday, South Coast Saturday morning

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Easing mid-period SW swell tomorrow with S/SE tending S/SW winds
• Inconsistent, long-range W/SW groundswell building Wed, peaking in the PM with S/SW-SW winds (S/SE early Mid Coast)
• Moderate sized, mid-period S/SW swell building Thu PM, easing Fri AM
• Variable tending S/SW winds Thu, S/SW Fri (S/SE early Mid Coast)
• Easing swell Sat/Sun, with E/NE tending fresh S/SE winds

Recap

Saturday morning started small and full across the Mid Coast with poor, onshore winds down South, while a new pulse of W/SW energy built into the afternoon and held yesterday to 1-2ft with cleaner conditions inside the gulf.

Today, our better mid-period swell has filled in and the Mid Coast is offering good 2ft+ sets with clean conditions (better than expected), 3-4ft off the South Coast with mostly clean conditions.

Overperforming swell this morning

This week and weekend (Dec 10 - 15)

This morning’s peak in mid-period swell is expected to ease back tomorrow, and the Mid Coast looks to offer 1-1.5ft sets with a morning S/SE wind, onshore and to 3ft down South across Middleton.

Come Wednesday, a long-range inconsistent W/SW groundswell is due, generated in our far swell window, to the south of the Indian Ocean last week.

It’ll be slow but 2ft sets should be seen at the peak which looks to be Wednesday afternoon with 3ft sets across Middleton, though S/SW-SW winds will persist across both coasts, tending S/SE through the morning inside the gulf. This swell is due to ease Thursday with fading 1-2ft sets across the Mid Coast and 2-3ft waves off Middleton.

Weaker winds are due into Thursday, likely tending variable offshore before shifting SW through the day, and a new moderate sized S/SW swell is due to build through the afternoon, peaking into the evening.

The source will be a relatively weak frontal system moving in from the west, with it due to deepen directly south-southwest of us through Wednesday, late in our swell window. The fetch strength will reach gale-force late in our swell window, but ahead of this mostly strong winds are due, generating mid-period swell energy.

Middleton should build to 3-4ft later in the day, with easing sets from a similar size on Friday while the Mid Coast is only due to see inconsistent 1-1.5ft sets. At this stage local winds look to favour the Mid Coast again Friday as the swell eases with a moderate S/SW breeze, tending S/SE early in the morning, while the weekend should see winds tend E/NE down South but with smaller, easing 2-3ft sets off Middleton Saturday, followed by similar winds Sunday morning but small to tiny.

As touched on last week, there looks to be a bit of down time between swells into early next week ahead of some new W/SW energy mid-week. More on this Wednesday.