Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Friday 6th April)

Best Days: Sat/Sun: peak in inconsistent long range E/NE swell, with mainly light winds in the mornings. Small underlying S'ly swell too. Late Wed/Thurs/easing Fri: strong SE swell, with a small underlying E/NE swell. 

Recap: A small mix of S’ly and E/NE swells has maintained 2-3ft surf across most beaches over the last few days. Winds haven’t been great but it’s been workable. 

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

This weekend (Apr 7th - 8th)

Looks like an OK weekend of waves across the beaches with a small mix of swells.

A series of minor southerly swells will continue to ebb and flow throughout the next few days, generated by poorly aligned fronts well south of Tasmania. Set waves will be inconsistent but south south friendly beaches - mainly the Hunter - may pick up some stray 2-3ft sets. 

Today’s E/NE swell will remain the dominant source over the weekend though (originating from TC Josie earlier in the week, south of Fiji), reaching a peak around 3ft+ both days, though likely easing a little into Sunday. Set waves will be extremely inconsistent though due to the distant swell source. So, you’ll have to be very patient. 

Conditions will be best in the mornings, with early light winds ahead of freshening northerlies each day that’ll generate unwelcome bumps through the afternoons. 

A shallow S’ly change pushing up the South Coast overnight Saturday isn’t expected to push any further north than the Illawarra, and should be all but a distant memory by early-mid Sunday morning. This will however disrupt Saturday afternoon’s northerlies flow and should result in light variable winds for the early session Sunday, before they perk up again into the afternoon. 

Next week (Apr 9th onwards)

Lots of interesting swell sources next week, though we’re still looking at a stubborn ridge of high pressure in the Tasman Sea, ensuring our near swell window remains relatively quiet. 

A steady trade flow through the Northern Tasman Sea will maintain minor levels of trade swell all week, but this’ll be enhanced by a developing Tropical Cyclone west of Fiji over the weekend that’ll push into our swell window early next week. This system will probably track too fast to the E/SE to generate any meaningful groundswell for guys, but we may see some inconsistent 3ft sets mid-late next week. 

Otherwise, a weak cut-off low sliding across Tasmania later Sunday is expected to merge with a deep Southern Ocean low south of New Zealand into Monday, forming a decent fetch of S’ly gales off the SW tip of the South Island into Tuesday. This fetch will be best aimed towards New Caledonia but we should see a decent spread of mid-week SE groundswell across Southern NSW, arriving later Wednesday and peaking Thursday with 3-4ft sets across most coasts and up to 4-6ft across exposed regions between the Sydney and Hunter coasts. 

More on this in Monday’s update. Have a great weekend!