Southern Tasmanian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday May 1st)

Best Days: Selected spots tomorrow morning and early Friday, Saturday morning, Sunday morning, Monday morning

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• New moderate sized S/SW swell tomorrow with moderate W/SW tending fresh SW-S/SW winds
• Easing swell Fri with light-moderate SW tending S/SE winds (possibly light W/NW early)
• Easing swell Sat with variable tending S/SE winds
• Small S/SW swell Sun with NW tending S/SW winds
• Inconsistent SW groundswell filling in Mon, peaking in the PM with NW tending variable winds

Recap

The swell picked up into yesterday but with less than ideal conditions, cleaner this morning and with a bit stronger energy to 3ft.

This week and next (Apr 2 - 10)

With the lift in swell the last couple of days, we’ve got another good S/SW pulse due tomorrow, generated by a healthy fetch of polar, strong to gale-force W’ly winds.

This should lift Clifton to 3ft+ tomorrow, with a drop back from 3ft due on Friday morning, smaller and to 2ft Saturday.

Winds still look average tomorrow, moderate W/SW early and then fresher SW-S/SW into the afternoon.

Friday is a touch dicey thanks to lingering SW winds, but we may see an early window of light W/NW breezes, though Saturday looks cleanest as winds tend variable and likely locally offshore.

Our strong pulse of new S’ly swell due through the weekend has unfortunately been downgraded, due to the late forming polar low that was forecast now being much weaker and failing to fire up within our swell window until too late.

In saying this, a small pulse of swell to 1-2ft Sunday morning may be seen but lower your expectations.

Otherwise, we’ve got an inconsistent SW groundswell due to fill in Monday, produced by a strong but tight polar low forming in the Heard Island region today. This should generate a fetch of pre-frontal severe-gale W/NW winds, and some fun swell to 2ft on the sets Monday. Winds look favourable and light offshore ahead of weak sea breezes.

Following this the outlook is slower so make the most of the coming energy.