Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Guy Dixon (issued Monday 20th)

Best Days: Clean options each day, becoming large on the weekend.

Recap: 

South facing beaches offered a few workable options on Saturday morning as southerly energy faded, with workable peaks in the 3ft range. A seabreeze came up from mid morning, bringing an impact on wave quality. 

This energy faded further on Sunday, with only a brief period of light workable winds in the early morning. Otherwise, it was small, wet and onshore.

Today, a fresh northeasterly swell has come up and is providing fun peaks in the 3-4ft range up and down the coast, remaining generally clean and workable under a northwesterly breeze.

This week (Tuesday 21st - Friday 24th):

Today’s fun northeasterly swell will fade throughout today, furthermore throughout Tuesday from the 2ft range as the main swell generating northeasterly in feed fetch on the eastern flank of the low drifts east and loses alignment.

As the core low dips south off the coast of Victoria and down past Tasmania, a southwesterly fetch will set up off the far South Coast of NSW and eastern Bass Strait.

At first, the alignment of this fetch looks ordinary, worsening as it broadens and strengthens, tending more west/southwesterly. The trailing fetches which extend down the east coast of Tasmania however are more favourable and their intensity should provide some fun workable energy across south facing beaches on Wednesday.

Exposed south facing beaches should build to around 2-3ft, more so in the 3-4ft range across the Hunter, with another westerly fetch exiting Bass Strait steered by a front soon after. Disclaimer: this is highly dependent on the alighnment and position of the fetch, just a few degrees more west or positioned slightly further west could see no swell at all. Remaning open beaches 

South facing beaches may continue to pick up flukey southerly options ebbing and pulsing from 2-3ft on Thursday, fading into Friday.

Conditions are likely to remain generally clean for the majority of each day as winds swing from northwesterly through to westerly at times. 

This weekend (Saturday 25th - Sunday 26th) and next week (Monday 27th onward):

Leading into the weekend a strong cold front looks to cut off as it squeezes through Bass Strait, steering a small but intense southerly fetch up the coast of NSW. Core winds have the potential to peak over 50kts, which would result in a strong kick in southerly swell.

South facing beaches have the potential to build to around 6-8ft on Saturday, larger across the Hunter under a gusty southwesterly breeze. 

This system looks to become broad throughout Saturday evening and into Sunday, encompassing virtually the entire width of the Tasman Sea.

Southerly fetches along the southern and western quadrants of this system should maintain plenty of good energy on Sunday, not to mention a bonus east/southeasterly pulse generated from fetches off the West coast of NZ.

As a result, Sunday should ease, but only slowly, with sets still breaking in the 6ft range during the morning, smaller throughout the afternoon.

Fortunately, southwesterly breezes should persist, easing and tending westerly later in the day.

It should take a day or two for the energy off the backside of the low to fill in, likely gracing our shores from early next week with sets in the 4-5ft range.