Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Guy Dixon (issued Wednesday 8th June)

Best Days: Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Recap:

Solid easterly energy has been providing great conditions along the coast of NSW over the past couple days, with sets in the 6-8ft range on Tuesday and clean under a west/northwesterly breeze. Today, the swell has dialled back a bit to the 6ft range, remaining clean as offshore winds persist.

This week (Thursday 9th - Friday 10th):

The northeasterly fetch which has been responsible for all of this great swell over the past few days has been moving east, with its alignment becoming progressively worse for the NSW coast.

In the coming days, the easterly energy should dry up fairly quickly now that the main source of energy has lost alignment.

We should see options fade from the 4-6ft range on Thursday, with breezes swinging from the north/northwest to more northwest as the day wears on. Some of the open beaches may see a few small bumps in the early morning, soon cleaning up as breeze tend more offshore. 

Slight intensifications along the northern extension of this fetch will add a small amount of east/northeasterly energy into the mix on Friday, but instead of adding fresh size, the easing trend will otherwise be slowed.

Options should ease from the 3-4ft+ range on Friday, with small hints of mid-range southerly energy beginning to show across south facing beaches by the late afternoon generated by westerly fetches exiting Bass Strait. Size wise, it probably won’t rival the existing easterly energy, but instead provide options 2-3ft range, possibly larger across the Hunter on dark.

Conditions are likely to remain clean under a westerly tending west/southwesterly breeze.

This weekend (Saturday 11th - Sunday 12th):

South facing beaches should continue to see options in the 2ft range on Saturday morning following on from the energy late on Friday, before much more substantial southerly energy fills in generated by broad southwesterly fetches with core winds of 35-40kts.

Sunday should offer a mix of mid range energy and longer period groundswell, providing sets in the 4-5ft range across south facing beaches, possibly up to 6ft along the Hunter.

Meanwhile, background easterly energy will continue to break across the open beaches and shouldn't drop below 3ft over the course of the weekend.

Conditions are likely to remain clean on Saturday as breezes swing from west/northwest thru to west/southwest, however a southerly change has is due to move up the coast overnight, leading to generally poor wave quality on Sunday.

Only the open beaches may have a workable wave in the morning under a southwesterly breeze, becoming limited as the day wears on.

Next week (Monday 13th onward):

Moving into the early stages of next week, southerly energy should gradually swing more southeasterly slowly fading from around 3-4ft, reinforced by weaker, broader, more distant fetches.

Models suggest that a ridge should strengthen over the eastern seaboard, steering a southeasterly fetch over the northern Tasman, resulting in an increase in easterly trade-swell by midweek.