Southern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 30th July)

Best Days: Tomorrow, Thursday, Friday morning, Saturday, Sunday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Building, small mid-period SW swell tomorrow with N/NE tending light NE winds, easing Wed with W/SW winds
• New W/SW groundswell building Thu with NW tending W/NW winds, easing Fri with W/NW tending SW winds
• Large W/SW-SW groundswell Sat with NW tending fresh SW winds, easing Sun with N/NW tending variable winds

Recap

Tiny, wind affected surf Saturday morning though cleaning up into the afternoon, ideal for beginners yesterday and today.

This weekend and next week (July 31 – Aug 6)

Looking at tomorrow, and our small pulse of mid-period SW swell is still on the cards, generated by a tight, slow moving polar low on the weekend. The peak looks to be into the afternoon with sets to 1-2ft across Clifton under N/NE tending NE winds, easing Wednesday with W/SW winds as a change moves through.

There'll be no new swell associated with this change on Wednesday, but into Thursday a good pulse of new W/SW groundswell is due, followed by a larger, stronger pulse on Saturday.

These swells will be generated by pre-frontal fetches of W/NW gales moving in from the south-east Indian Ocean, then strengthening along the polar shelf while projecting east towards us.

The first system should generate a fun, building pulse to 2-3ft Thursday afternoon with NW tending W/NW winds. The swell looks to ease back temporarily Friday, ahead of the larger pulse late Friday but more so Saturday.

This larger pulse will be generated by severe-gale W'ly gales along the polar shelf and should generate strong 4-6ft sets Saturday morning along with NW offshores ahead of a SW change.

The easing trend looks slowed by persistent, drawn out W/SW gales through our swell window Friday and Saturday, with Sunday still due to see good 3ft+ sets across Clifton and with offshore N/NW tending variable winds.

Following this the outlook is a little slower, but more on this Wednesday.