Southern Tasmanian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday May 26th)

Best Days: Every day this period

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small-mod sized W/SW swell tomorrow with N/NW winds
• Moderate sized W/SW groundswell Sun AM ahead of a stronger, larger W/SW groundswell later in the afternoon
• NW wind Sun, possibly tending N/NW on dark
• Easing W/SW groundswell Mon with gusty WNW-W/SW winds
• Reinforcing W/SW swell Tue with NW winds
• Smaller Wed with N/NW winds

Recap

Good conditions yesterday with clean 1-2ft sets across Clifton, better and more consistent today to 2ft with beautiful conditions. A bit more size is due into the afternoon as winds remain offshore.

Fun waves this afternoon

This weekend and next week (May 27 – Jun 2)

Up, up and away.

This is the smallest the surf will be for a few days, with more size and energy due over the coming days.

Today's cold front should maintain 2ft+ waves across Clifton tomorrow under fresh N/NW winds, while later in the day we may see some new W/SW swell energy kicking through the

This is being generated by a great fetch of pre-frontal W/NW gales swinging up from a position south of Western Australia, nearing closer tomorrow as a much more significant polar fetch projects north-east.

Late in the day sets to 3ft might be seen tomorrow, but the groundswell proper should peak Sunday morning to 3ft+.

Conditions will be clean Sunday with a NW breeze, possibly tending N/NW later ahead of an approaching frontal system.

Now, what are we expecting into the afternoon?

As touched on in Wednesday's update, the timing of a much more significant, oversized pulse of W/SW groundswell into the afternoon looks later rather than earlier.

The formation of a severe-gale fetch pushing up on top of the active sea state generated by the pre-frontal W/NW winds is a little slower and in line with what EC was forecasting.

This means we'll see the swell arriving later rather than earlier, with the period front forecast to enter the South Arm during the afternoon, becoming biggest later in the day.

The swell front will be defined and strong sets pulsing to 5-6ft due across Clifton, peaking overnight and then easing from 4-5ft+ on Monday morning.

Those arvo NW winds will shift back to the W on Monday as the front pushes across us, favouring protected spots. W/NW winds are due at times and W/SW breezes at others.

Reinforcing levels of mid-period W/SW swell will slow the easing trend through Tuesday and Wednesday and maintain 2-3ft sets across Clifton on the former, 1-2ft Wednesday.

Longer term another strong frontal progression will bring a moderate sized W/SW swell Thursday/Friday along with favourable winds. More on this Monday. Have a great weekend!