Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 26th April)

Best Days: Early Saturday, Sunday morning, early Monday, Tuesday

Recap

Great weather but minimal surf with small and inconsistent sets easing from 1-2ft yesterday, back to 1-1.5ft this morning with a freshening offshore wind.

Today’s Forecaster Notes are brought to you by Rip Curl

This weekend and next week (Apr 27 – May 3)

These notes will be brief as Ben’s away today.

From tomorrow we'll see our attention turn to the south, with various pulses of tricky mid-period and S'ly groundswell due as strong cold fronts push across the south-east of the country and into the Tasman Sea.

Our first increase through tomorrow will be initial mid-period energy from W/SW gales exiting eastern Bass Strait. With a weaker fetch of S/SW winds moving up the coast early tomorrow there'll be some weaker windswell in the mix, with south facing beaches in Sydney likely to come in around 4-5ft on the sets, much smaller at other beaches and likely smaller on the South Coast with more size across the Hunter.

Winds will be best early morning and SW across most spots, W/SW on the Northern Beaches, with the afternoon bumpy as winds shift S'ly and then SE while easing.

Sunday will see the mid-period S'ly swell easing, with some new S'ly groundswell in the mix from a fetch of W/SW-S/SW gales south of Tasmania this afternoon through early Saturday.

The size is tricky to forecast but it looks like we'll see a touch less energy than Saturday with 3-5ft sets across south magnets in Sydney, with bigger waves across the Hunter. Winds will be much better and out of the W/NW on Sunday morning, shifting S/SW early afternoon and then SE late.

Another good S'ly groundswell pulse is due on Monday morning, produced by a stronger though tight fetch of severe-gale S/SW winds south-southeast of Tasmania, keeping 4ft surf hitting south facing beaches in Sydney (likely the odd 5ft'er), larger in the Hunter.

There'll also be some more consistent mid-period S'ly swell from a secondary front pushing past the south-east corner of the state on Sunday, though this will bring less than ideal SW tending SE winds.

Tuesday looks the cleanest at south magnets with easing 3-4ft sets and NW tending N/NE winds.

Longer term the models are starting to align regarding the development of a Tasman Low off our coast later next week, bringing large windy surf out of the south-east Friday onwards, but we'll have to have another look at this Monday. Have a great weekend!