Western Australia Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 12th January)

Best Days: Saturday morning South West magnets, all locations Monday and Tuesday mornings

Recap

Average conditions across all locations yesterday, small through the morning ahead of a good kick in size through the day.

This morning conditions were cleaner around Mandurah and Perth though only really surfable around the former (1-2ft), and Margs saw weakening onshore winds creating OK conditions for desperate surfers with a small swell.

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

This weekend and next week (Jan 13 - 19)

Our current swell will continue to ease over the weekend as winds swing offshore. The easing trend will be softened slightly tomorrow morning owing to weak fronts pushing past the South West yesterday and today generating a small S/SW bump.

It'll only be mid-period but magnets should see 3-4ft sets tomorrow morning, easing through the day and back to 2-3ft Sunday. Expect tiny to flat conditions around Perth and Mandurah.

An E/SE offshore is expected tomorrow morning ahead of sea breezes, while Sunday looks similar but windier with weaker sea breezes.

Looking at early next week's long-period SW groundswell and we've had a slight further adjustment of the size, which isn't ideal and somewhat annoying seeing as both EC and GFS were solid on the structure the low would take just a couple of days out.

In any case the 'bombing low' is currently developing and we're expected to see a less than favourable fetch of severe-gale to storm-force W/NW-W winds generated in our south-western swell window, east of Heard Island today and tomorrow.

The low will be slow moving which is a plus for swell generation and height and winds are looking favourable Monday morning.

We're still looking at a couple of swells pulses, but it'll mainly feel like one prolonged event through Monday and Tuesday.

We should see the swell arrive overnight Sunday and peak through Monday in the 8ft range across the South West, with 10ft sets likely at offshore reefs and magnets. Mandurah should see 2-3ft sets, with 1-2ft waves in Perth.

Conditions look great with an E/SE offshore tending more SE into the afternoon.

A secondary pulse for Tuesday looks to be around the same size, though a deepening inland surface trough looks to swing winds more SE through the morning (possibly E/SE at dawn) and then S/SW into the afternoon.

This low will then drift south-east resulting in onshore S/SW winds as the swell eases through Wednesday.

We'll hopefully see a return to SE winds on Thursday but the surf will be small and easing from 3ft or so across the South West, tiny to the north.

Longer term there's nothing really significant on the cards until next weekend when we may see a moderate sized SW groundswell, but more on this Monday. Have a great weekend!