Sydney Hunter Illawarra Surf Forecast by James Casey (issued Monday 26th April)

Best Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday, Monday

Outlook:

• Tuesday and Wednesday 2-3ft+ of S swell (largest for the Hunter and S swell magnets) 
• Thursday to Saturday smallt to tiny waves with light winds early, seabreezes in the afternoon. High tide will slow things down mid morning
• Sunday and Monday 2-3ft NE windswell

Recap

It was a decent weekend of waves with the longer period S swell really filling in mid morning on Saturday before easing a bit into the afternoon. There were some solid sets to be had but it was a little on the slow side with some lengthy lulls between the larger sets. There was noticeably less energy by Saturday afternoon into Sunday.

Winds were best in the mornings with light onshore breezes picking up into the afternoon making it a little bumpy. 

Today it was 2-3ft early at south swell magnets, while the less exposed beaches were a fair bit smaller. A mid period south swell should fill in later today providing a bit more energy into tomorrow.

The start of the new week

A southerly swell will move in tomorrow keeping waves up around that 3ft mark for the first half of the week. This pulse of longer period S energy is thanks to a weak front pushing up to the east of Tassie. It will ebb and pulse into Wednesday. A strengthening region of high pressure over the southeast of the nation will allow for lighter winds too. 

On Tuesday, the swell will be 3ft with light W/SW winds early so there’ll be fun waves to be had. These winds will tend SW by mid morning and turn out of the E/SE by the afternoon. The Hunter will see a bit more size up around 3-4ft and the biggest sets at S swell magnets.

Wednesday will see less energy with wave heights around that 2-3ft mark. Winds look to continue the trend, light and offshore out of the W/SW early tending SW and then swinging around to the NE by the afternoon. This NE seabreeze is looking stronger for the Illawarra. 

Into the weekend 

A blocking high will set up towards the end of the week preventing any swells from the south and without much action further north it’s looking to be fairly small.

By Thursday the swell will have faded out with just small waves on offer around the 1-2ft mark. Winds will be W/NW early strengthening out of the NE in the afternoon.

Friday will again have tiny waves but with a light and variable breeze out of the SW early, tending E/SE in the afternoon. It’s not looking great and with the mid morning high tide not helping matters.

The weekend will start with light and variable offshores and again only tiny surf on offer with the mid morning high tide making it pretty close to flat. By Saturday afternoon a NE seabreeze will push in creating bumpy conditions. The good news is this seabreeze will persist long enough to provide a bit of NE windswell for Sunday. 

It won’t be anything special but a little NE windswell will provide waves in the 2ft range, bigger than the back half of the week provided. Light and variable W/NW winds for the Hunter and Sydney will mean there’ll be nice conditions early on while the Illawarra has winds out of the N making it a little on the bumpy side for most of the day. 

Next week

A nice offshore breeze on Monday morning will clean things up as the NE windswell builds to the 2-3ft mark. Again there’ll be a NE breeze but this time with an approaching S change due for Tuesday. 

Later in the week there’s a fair bit of confusion amongst the models but some form of low looks to form off N NSW with an onshore flow persisting for a few days. What is more certain is a strengthening trade flow above NZ which will provide a swell out of the E. Tune in on Wednesday for an update.