Western Australia Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 22nd December)

Best Days: Keen surfers across South West swell magnets Saturday morning, Wednesday morning

Recap

A bit of new swell yesterday though winds were funky and a little variable across the South West, good in some spots, but average in others before swinging onshore. Mandurah saw some fun tiny 1-1.5ft waves, while Perth remained tiny.

This morning the swell has dropped back with less than ideal S/SE winds across the South West, cleaner but tiny again to the north.

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This weekend and next week (Dec 22 - 29)

Into the weekend we'll see the surf continuing to drop leaving tiny to flat waves up around Mandurah and Perth, though Margs should still see 3ft sets at magnets tomorrow morning. Conditions will be better with a morning SE tending E/SE wind before sea breezes kick in, with a fresher E/SE breeze Sunday but smaller 2ft+ leftovers.

Monday will be smaller again with no swell left on the coast as winds swing from the S/SE to S/SW (S/SW all day Tuesday) as a front approaches from the west.

This front will be a much weaker state of its former self which is currently south-east of South Africa. This system developed as a strong low south of South Africa, with a fetch of severe-gale to storm-force W/SW winds generated in our far far swell window.

The low since pushed north-east while weakening a little, currently aiming a fetch of W/SW gales in our western swell window, north-west of Heard Island. This front will continue east while slowly weakening but maintaining strong winds in our swell window right through until Monday before weakening.

A moderate sized W/SW groundswell should be seen, with this and the long-period energy due to arrive later Tuesday and peak through Wednesday to 5-6ft across the South West and 2ft in Mandurah, with 1-2ft waves around Perth.

We'll hopefully see variable tending light offshore winds Wednesday morning, while a secondary polar front pushing up and towards us Thursday will swing winds back to the S'th while bringing with it a new SW groundswell.

Similar 5-6ft sets are due across the South West into the afternoon, 2ft in Mandurah and 1-2ft around Perth, easing Friday with better offshore winds.

Longer term another moderate sized SW swell is on the cards for next weekend, followed by similar pulses into the New Year, but more on this Monday. Have a happy and safe Christmas!