Western Australian Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday August 14th)

Best Days: Depserate surfers Perth and Mandurah early Friday

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Easing surf to tomorrow with strong SW winds, easing
• Smaller Fri with gusty N/NE tending strong N/NW winds
• XL W/SW groundswell building rapidly Sat, peaking overnight, easing Sun
• Strong W-W/SW winds Sat, strong W/SW-SW Sun
• Easing surf Mon with easing SW winds
• Smaller Tue with freshening NW winds
• Large, inconsistent W/SW groundswell building Tue PM, easing Wed with possibly S/SE winds Wed AM in Perth Mandurah, more variable Thu AM across all locations

Recap

Poor surf and conditions all round yesterday and today with frontal systems bringing plenty of swell but fresh to strong onshore winds.

This week and next (Aug 15 - 23)

The frontal system linked to the current onshore winds and swell will clear east over the coming days before the next system moves in on the weekend.

With this strong SW winds are due to ease through tomorrow, but unfortunately the window for cleaner conditions and better S/SE winds across Perth and Mandurah now looks to be a long shot.

Friday is a better chance but still not great with freshening N/NE winds due to quickly swing N/NW and strengthen with small, fading 2ft sets across the metro locations.

The strengthening N/NW winds will be ahead of a strong low that’s currently moving in from the east through the southern Indian Ocean. It’s tight and generating a great fetch of severe-gale to storm-force W/SW winds and will continue to do so tomorrow but at a more southern latitude before projecting more north and towards us while weakening Friday and Saturday

An XL W/SW groundswell is due from this low, building rapidly Saturday, peaking into the afternoon/evening and then easing Sunday.

Sets to 12ft+ are due in the South West, 3-5ft across Mandurah and 3-4ft in Perth but with strong W-W/SW winds on Saturday, and then strong W/SW-SW Sunday.

Easing SW winds are due on Monday but the chance of early S/SE winds across Perth and Mandurah look unlikely at this stage with Tuesday seeing freshening NW winds ahead of the next frontal system.

This front will be the remnants of a strong storm that’s formed off South Africa, with a distant fetch of severe-gale to storm-force W/SW-SW winds due to generate a large, inconsistent W/SW groundswell for Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning (8-10ft in the South West).

There’s an outside chance of S/SE winds across Perth and Mandurah Wednesday morning, better Thursday but we’ll review this on Friday.

So all in all there looks to be little to no let up in the wind or average conditions this coming period until mid-late next week. More on this Friday.