Western Australia Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 13th May)

Best Days: South West swell magnets tomorrow morning, protected spots Friday, Saturday morning in the South West

Recap

Pumping waves Saturday across the South West with a reinforcing swell and offshore winds along with 6-8ft sets. Mandurah was smaller and back to 2ft but nice and clean, tiny in Perth with the swell providing a touch more size into Sunday. Margs easing back Sunday from 6ft+ but with great conditions under an early offshore breeze.

The swell eased back a bit into this morning with lingering onshore winds across the South West, OK this afternoon with a touch more size, while Perth and Mandurah were clean but tiny.

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This week and weekend (May 14 – 19)

A new mid-period SW swell due to fill in today is expected to drop through tomorrow but with nice offshore winds, ideal for the magnets in the South West. The swell was generated by a mid-latitude low producing a fetch of strong W/NW winds in our swell window, with it passing under the country over the weekend.

Easing sets from 3-5ft are due in the South West, tiny and 1-1.5ft to the north along with a straight E'ly offshore, tending NE ahead of weak sea breezes.

Wednesday will be smaller and a dawn NE'ly will quickly shift NW through the morning and W/NW through the afternoon.

Our new long-period SW groundswell for Thursday is still on track, but it will be spoilt by a local deepening trough moving in from the west, bringing onshore winds and an additional S/SW swell.

Firstly the groundswell, and a strong polar low has generated a good though thin fetch of severe-gale W/SW winds in our swell window, with a small burst of storm-force core winds.

This has produced a good long-period SW groundswell for late Wednesday but more so Thursday morning with the South West expected to offer 6ft+ sets, 2ft in Mandurah and 1-2ft in Perth.

The deepening trough will unfortunately bring strong S/SW winds on Thursday and an increase in mid-period S/SW Friday, keeping the South West around 6ft+, 2-3ft in Mandurah and 2ft in Perth.

Winds will improve a touch on Friday for Perth and Mandurah, fresh from the SE, while Margs will see gusty S/SE winds.

Saturday looks cleaner with an E/NE offshore wind and easing S'ly groundswell across the South West to 4-6ft at magnets, small to tiny in Perth and Mandurah.

The next increase in swell looks to arrive out of the W/SW early next week as a couple of mid-latitude fronts fire up towards us late week and into the weekend under the influence of the Long Wave Trough.

One of these might be quite significant generating a windy XL W/SW swell, but we'll have a closer look at this on Wednesday.