Western Australian forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday March 19th)

Best Days: Tomorrow morning, Sunday morning, Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning in the South West

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Moderate + sized mid-period SW swell for tomorrow (undersized early) with E tending E/NE winds ahead of sea breezes
• Easing swell Fri with gusty S/SE-SE winds
• Moderate sized mix of swells for Sat PM with mod-fresh S/SE-SE tending S/SW winds
• Easing swell Sun with strong S/SE winds
• Large mix of SW swells building Mon PM with E/SE tending S/SW winds
• Easing swell Tue with SE winds in the South West through the AM, E/NE to the north
• Smaller Wed with morning E/SE winds

Recap

The surf backed off through yesterday with clean conditions across most locations and sets to 3-4ft in the South West.

Today the surf was less than ideal with cross-shore winds and nowhere of any real quality as a new SW groundswell filled in.

This week and next (Mar 20 - 28)

Tomorrow will be the best of the coming period thanks to the arrival of a moderate + sized mid-period SW swell arriving under a light E’ly tending E/NE breeze. This will create great conditions across all locations before sea breezes kick in, and we should see the South West building to 6ft on the sets, 2ft Mandurah and 1-2ft Perth.

Make the most of the morning ahead of strong sea breezes and then less favourable S/SE-SE winds into Friday morning as the swell backs off.

Moving into the weekend and our mix of mid-period SW and slightly better S/SW groundswell is due into Saturday afternoon, generated by a relatively weak but late strengthening low south-west of us over the coming days.

The fetch generating the S/SW component looks strongest and should reveal the most size into later Saturday and Sunday morning for the South West, peaking at 4-6ft with small 1-2ft waves max across metro regions.

Winds are tricky and look moderate to fresh out of the S/SE-SE on Saturday morning ahead of sea breezes when the swell peaks, with Sunday coming in windy with unfavourable, strong S/SE winds.

We’ll fall in between swells on Monday morning but with clean conditions thanks to an E/SE offshore. A mid-period SW swell is due through the morning along with a larger groundswell through the afternoon, generated by a strong polar low that’s currently forming south-east of South Africa.

A great fetch of severe-gale W’ly winds should move east, generating the groundswell, with the low weakening while approaching us over the weekend.

The groundswell will be least consistent, with more consistent mid-period energy generated by secondary stages of the storm projecting closer to us. Building surf to 8-10ft is due into the afternoon across the South West, 2-3ft Mandurah and 2ft Perth.

Sea breezes will spoil the new swell, with Tuesday looking OK with gusty SE winds in the South West and E/NE winds to the north along with easing levels of swell from 8ft, 2-3ft and 2ft respectively.

The rest of the week looks clean with easing levels of swell, best Wednesday before fading Thursday and Friday.