Southern Tasmanian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday December 28th)

Best Days: Tomorrow morning, Friday morning for beginners, early Monday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small mid-period W/SW swell tomorrow to 2ft with W/NW tending S/SE winds
• Easing surf Fri with N/NW tending strong E/NE winds
• Small, inconsistent W/SW groundswell for later Sat with N/NE tending strong E/NE winds, easing Sun with similar gusty NE tending strong E/NE winds
• Inconsistent W/SW swell for Mon with variable tending S/SE winds
• Easing swell Tue with S/SW winds

Recap

Monday afternoon's strong pulse of W/SW groundswell held its size well into yesterday morning with clean 3ft sets before sea breezes kiced in.

Today the swell has bottomed out with clean conditions that are ideal for beginners.

This week and next (Dec 29 – Jan 6)

A strong W/SW change due into this afternoon looks a little better for swell generation tomorrow with a small 2ft wave due through tomorrow along with a W/NW offshore, giving into sea breezes late morning.

Friday will be tiny and back to 1ft, ideal for beginners with a N/NW offshore before stronger E/NE breezes kick in.

Saturday morning looks to start tiny as well, but a new, inconsistent W/SW groundswell is due through the late afternoon, easing Sunday morning.

This was generated by a distant, short-lived polar low producing a fetch of W/SW gales in our swell window, producing infrequent 1-2ft sets across Clifton.

Sea breezes will be in on Saturday afternoon, strong from the E/NE, with Sunday seeing gusty NE tending E/NE winds.

Moving into early next week, and a fun mid-period W/SW swell is expected. The swell is being generated by a broad polar frontal progression that's currently around the Heard Island region, with a fetch of strong to near gale-force W/SW winds being projected east. The frontal progression will weaken once south-west of Western Australia, with inconsistent sets to 2ft due with early variable winds ahead of a S/SE change linked to a trough.

Winds might linger from the S'th for a couple of days following this change, but we'll have a closer look at this Friday.