Southern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 18th May)

Best Days: Beginners tomorrow, Thursday, Friday

Recap

Tiny surf Saturday but a slight pulse of new swell was seen yesterday to 2ft on the sets with early variable winds ahead of a change. The swell is still 1-2ft this morning and cleaner but on the way out.

This week and weekend (May 19 - 24)

We'll see the swell from yesterday and today easing back in size tomorrow with a new W'ly pulse due to be too west to bring any new size tomorrow. 1-1.5ft waves are likely tomorrow, ideal for beginners with a freshening N/NE breeze.

Wednesday will become even smaller as offshore winds persist, giving into a shallow W/SW change and then back to the W/NW later.

We've then got a great looking long-period SW groundswell on the cards for later in the week as a deepening polar low forms south-west of us on Wednesday.

Ahead of this low a burst of unfavourably aligned SW gales should generate a building W/SW groundswell Thursday, kicking to 2-3ft or so through the afternoon with NW tending W/NW winds.

The low proper will generate a fetch of severe-gale W/SW-SW winds while moving slowly east on Wednesday and Thursday morning, moving out of our swell window through the day.

This should produce a larger SW groundswell for Friday, peaking at 4-5ft+ across Clifton and with N/NW tending variable N/NE winds.

The swell will then ease into the afternoon and further on the weekend as an onshore change moves through Saturday, lingering into Sunday as a broad and weak low sits off our East Coast. More on this Wednesday though.