Southern Tasmania Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 13th August)

Best Days: Protected spots tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for beginners

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Large, easing S/SW groundswell tomorrow with strong W/SW tending SW winds, smaller Wed with N/NW tending variable winds
• Inconsistent W/SW groundswell Thu, fading Fri with N/NW tending light SE winds on Thu, strengthening N/NE Fri

Recap

Our solid mix of swells for Saturday provided good 3ft surf across Clifton, easing back to a smaller 1-2ft yesterday morning.

This morning we've got a new W/SW groundswell ahead of larger SW energy into this afternoon and evening with a strong W/SW change.

This week and weekend (Aug 18 - 20)

Currently a strong polar low is projecting SW gales up and into the bottom of the state, and this will continue into this evening with even a bit of S/SW direction, producing large surf out of the SW this afternoon/evening.

Tomorrow will see large, easing surf from the S/SW, dropping from the 6ft range across Clifton, smaller Wednesday and easing from 3ft+.

Winds will be best for protected spots tomorrow and strong from the W/SW, shifting SW through the day. Wednesday will be clean across Clifton with a N/NW tending variable breeze.

Looking at Thursday and an inconsistent and tricky W/SW groundswell is showing on the charts but I feel the source is too flukey to generate any size.

This source being a fetch of gale to severe-gale NW winds moving through our swell window, down from the south-east Indian Ocean.

I'd keep your expectations low with infrequent 1-1.5ft sets mostly likely, tiny Friday. Conditions will be great for beginners though with a NW offshore ahead of weak SE sea breezes, stronger from the N/NE on Friday.

Longer term the outlook remains slow into the weekend and next week so make the most of the coming week.