Southern Tasmanian forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday January 17th)

Best Days: Sunday morning

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small to tiny W/SW swell this afternoon and tomorrow AM, easing
• Variable N/NE winds ahead of sea breezes, E/NE later
• Small S/SW swell Sun with fresh N/NE tending stronger E/NE winds
• Easing swell Mon with N/NW tending S/SE winds
• Possible tiny W/SW swell later week
• Better SW swell next weekend

Recap

The surf has been tiny with clean conditions yesterday morning, while today onshore winds are blowing with 1-1.5ft of swell.

This weekend and next week (Jan 18 - 24)

There are a couple of swell sources for the coming days, though none of them overly significant.

A weak frontal system moving in behind yesterday’s trough should produce 1ft to possibly 2ft waves across Clifton this afternoon and early tomorrow before easing into the afternoon.

Winds look variable out of the N/NE tomorrow morning creating OK conditions before sea breezes kick in, tending E/NE towards the evening.

Come Sunday our small pulse of better S/SW swell is on track, with a slim polar fetch of gales verified by satellite.

This should provide 2ft sets across Clifton with a fresh N/NE offshore, tending stronger E/NE through the day. While not ideal there should be some fun options about.

It’ll be worth making the most of though as the outlook for next week is tiny.

Sunday’s swell is due to fade Monday and Tuesday with it becoming tiny, similar Wednesday.

A tiny W/SW swell may be seen later week, generated by a weak frontal system moving in, under the country, but otherwise the longer term outlook is more promising. A stronger frontal progression moving in from the west should bring with it some better swell next weekend. More on this Monday. Have a great weekend!