South Australian Surf Forecast (issued Wed 2nd Apr)

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Craig started the topic in Wednesday, 2 Apr 2014 at 3:38pm

South Australian Forecast (issued Wednesday 2nd April)

Best Days: Thursday and Friday on the Mid, Sunday morning - Tuesday morning down South

Recap

A slow increase in SW groundswell was seen across the South Coast as winds remained offshore all day, opening up plenty of options from Goolwa to Parsons. The Mid Coast saw a tiny W/SW swell to 1ft+ or so but conditions deteriorated during the day with a freshening N'ly.

Overnight a fresh onshore change moved through, but a new mix of S/SW and W/SW groundswell are on the build and the Mid Coast should see some fun ones later this afternoon.

This week (Apr 2 – Apr 4)

There's been no real change to the outlook for the coming couple of days, with a couple of strong pulses of SW groundswell and smaller W/SW swell due from a series of strong polar fronts pushing up towards us (pictured right).

The W/SW swell should fill in late today and peak tomorrow with inconsistent 2ft sets on the Mid, while the SW groundswell will provide much larger sets down South ahead of the largest pulse Friday to 4-5ft+ at Middleton and 5-6ft+ at Waits.

Unfortunately winds will poor down South and onshore from the S/SW tending S/SE tomorrow, with E/SE tending S/SE winds Friday. The Mid will be a much better option on both days with S/SE winds Thursday and SE winds Friday.

This weekend onwards (April 5th onwards)

Friday's swell will drop through Saturday with the Mid Coast still expected to offer clean tiny waves mainly for beginners. The South Coast will offer much more size but a lingering SE'ly will continue to keep conditions average.

Sunday is looking much better as a long-range but medium sized S/SW groundswell fills in under E/NE winds.

The source of this swell is a broad and vigorous polar front firing up east of Heard Island today, pushing slowly east over the coming days before weakening below the Bight Friday evening.

A peak to 3-4ft+ is expected at Middleton with larger 4-5ft sets at Waits, while the Mid Coast should persist at a tiny and inconsistent 1ft.

The swell will back away slowly into the start of next week as winds blow from the E/NE each morning, favouring slightly protected breaks across the South Coast.

Longer term there's nothing too major on the cards with a blocking high expected to move in across our main swell windows during the weekend. So make the most of the coming period of waves, even if conditions aren't that special down South.