Victorian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 3rd February)

Best Days: Today experienced surfers protected spots, similar tomorrow morning, Sunday and Monday mornings

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Large mix of W/SW and SW groundswell peaking this afternoon with strong W/NW winds, possibly tending W late
• Easing mix of swells tomorrow with strong W/NW winds, shifting W/SW-SW mid-late AM
• Moderate sized mid-period S/SW swell building later tomorrow, easing Sun
• Moderate W/NW winds Sun AM, tending S/SW late AM
• Inconsistent SW groundswell building late Sun, peaking overnight, easing Mon
• Light-mod W/NW winds Mon AM, tending S/SW later AM
• Smaller Tue with S/SE winds
• Mid-period S/SW swell Wed with SE tending S/SE winds

Recap

Pumping waves across the Surf Coast all day yesterday and good surf in selected spots to the east with a moderate sized mid-period swell to 3-4ft+ on the magnets to the west, 5-6ft to the east.

This morning it's pumping but cold across the Victorian coast with snow in the mountains and apparent temperatures near 0°C but with clean, strong sets that are now 5-6ft on the Surf Coast magnets.

A mix of SW and W/SW groundswell are filling in and we should see the swell peaking this afternoon to 6ft+ on the Surf Coast and 8ft to possibly 10ft on the magnets to the east.

Winds will shift W/NW over the coming hours, remaining strong and only possibly tending W'ly into the late afternoon/evening. This will provide excellent conditions for the experienced all day in protected spots.

Stacked lines this AM

This weekend and next week (Feb 4 - 10)

Looking at the weekend ahead and we'll see our mix of SW and W/SW groundswell from the strong polar low that projected up and into South Australia the last couple of days easing into tomorrow, with sets dropping from 4-6ft on the Surf Coast magnets and 6-8ft to the east.

The low which is currently moving slowly east will produce a final fetch of strong S/SW-S winds up past Tasmania's West Coast tomorrow morning, producing a reinforcing pulse of S/SW swell for later in the afternoon.

This looks to maintain 4ft surf until late on the Surf Coast before easing from the 3ft+ range on Sunday morning. To the east we're looking at a continued downtrend in size owing to the southerly swell direction.

Winds will be good tomorrow morning and strong from the W/NW, but as the low moves east, strong W/SW tending SW winds will kick in mid-late morning.

Winds will tend back to the W/NW on Sunday morning across the Surf Coast, creating clean conditions with a shift back to the S/SW later morning.

Later in the day a new long-period SW groundswell is due to arrive, with a peak expected overnight before easing through Monday.

This has been generated by a strong extra-tropical low that dipped south-east into the westerly storm track, generating a good fetch of severe-gale W/NW winds, to the south-southwest of Western Australia.

It'll be inconsistent but the Surf Coast should see a bump back to 3-4ft on Monday morning (possibly rare bigger one on the magnets), easing through the day with easing 6ft surf to the east.

Winds look to favour the Surf Coast again with a light W/NW breeze through the morning, shifting S/SW later morning, with average bumpy conditions to the east.

From Tuesday a new high pressure system will start to fill in from the west, bringing a return to normal summer programming with S/SE-SE winds and smaller surf. A new mid-period S/SW swell should be seen into Wednesday, generated by a weak polar front pushing around the south-eastern corner of the high, but with those average SE-S/SE winds.

Therefore make the most of the current and coming swells while they're here! Have a great weekend!