Southern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday 28th April)

Best Days: Friday, possibly early Tuesday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small W/SW swell building late Thu, peaking Fri with N tending N/NE winds
• Strong W/SW groundswell building Mon with strong S/SW winds, easing Tue as onshore winds persist

Recap

Easing surf from a fun 1-2ft yesterday, back to a tiny 1ft today, ideal for beginners.

This week and next (Apr 29 - May 7)

The surf will remain tiny tomorrow but into Friday a fun pulse of new W/SW swell is due from a south-east dipping frontal progression through our swell window.

This progression is quite healthy though not overly strong with sets to 2ft due Friday morning when it peaks, easing into the afternoon and tiny Saturday.

Winds on Friday look great with a N’ly offshore, shifting E/NE into the afternoon and then N/NE tending NE on Saturday as the swell fades, near flat Sunday.

Monday will start slow but into the afternoon a strong, long-period W/SW groundswell will start to build, peaking overnight and easing slowly Tuesday morning. The source of this swell will be a strong polar low firing up around the Heard Island region this evening, generating a great fetch of severe-gale to storm-force W/SW winds while moving slowly east through our swell window.

The low will continue with strength until south of WA Saturday morning, then easing while continuing slowly east. This will result in a large groundswell, with it building to a good 3-4ft by dark Monday, easing from a similar size Tuesday morning.

Winds unfortunately look poor as a trough moves through Monday and a low forms off our north-east Tuesday, resulting in strong S/SW winds on the former, possibly dipping back WNW for a period on the later.

Following this there’s nothing too significant on the cards with the storm track firing up towards Western Australia, resulting in a run of small westerly swells. More on this Friday.