Western Australia Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 15th January)

Best Days: Tuesday, Friday late morning in the South West, Saturday morning in the South West

Recap

Fun waves across swell magnets in the South West Saturday morning, clean again Sunday but very small. Further north the surf was clean but tiny.

Today we've seen a large and powerful SW groundswell fill in across the South West (undersized at dawn) but coming in at a pumping 8-10ft across magnets, with a bit of a wait for the biggest and best ones (smaller at other breaks). Perth and Mandurah were tiny, but Mandurah has since picked up to a fun size, while the swell which wasn't ideal for Perth is still tiny.

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This week and weekend (Jan 16 - 21)

Today's first pulse of large SW groundswell generated by 'bombing low' between Heard Island and us late last week and during the weekend will be topped up by a secondary reinforcing swell tomorrow morning. This is the result of the slow moving nature of the low through our swell window and we should see Margs continuing around 8ft on the sets, easing through the day, with 2ft+ waves in Mandurah, and 1-1.5ft in Perth.

Conditions will be great all day with a moderate to fresh E-E/NE wind persisting most of the day as ex-tropical cyclone Joyce drifts offshore west of Perth.

Into Wednesday though winds will take an unfavourable swing to the N'th (N/NE early around Margs) creating average conditions as the swell drops back from the 4-5ft range across the South West, tiny to the north.

Thursday will be smaller again though winds will swing back to the S/SE, creating average conditions.

Into Friday a small background SW groundswell is due to build, generated by weak polar low traversing under the Heard Island region today and tomorrow.

Margs should build to 3-4ft into the afternoon, with no real size in Mandurah or Perth. A morning E/SE offshore is due, swinging S/SE into the afternoon, so a midday surf is likely the best time to head out.

The swell will ease into Saturday with morning offshores, while Sunday S'ly winds will create average conditions with another slight bump in swell.

Some stronger polar frontal activity is expected to generate some better SW groundswell early next week as winds slowly improve, but we'll review this Wednesday.