A Coral Sea trough deepens into a small low and becomes continuous with a NSW coastal trough which deepens today and forms an ECL over the next 12-24hrs. By first light tomorrow morning and ECL or variant thereof will be positioned off the lower end of the MNC, likely due east of Seal Rocks.
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Wed now looks very sizey with a full fledged low off the coast, E’ly gales feeding into it and L-XL surf developing along the NSW Central and Southern coastlines.
More frontal activity through the lower Tasman keeps the southern swell window active medium term while the Tasman Sea now looks like showing enhanced storminess with major models in broad agreement over a large, complex surface low developing and good odds for a prolonged M/L swell event.
Despite the travel distance, we should see some quality long range E swell from this source, with some size from the south this week as the front and low traverse the Tasman.
A trade fetch with a small low at the SE edge of the fetch is supplying small surf to the sub-tropics, with a minor amount expected to slowly filter down into more temperate regions.
Compared to earlier model runs the trough and E’ly dip aren’t expected to form any major swell generating low pressure through the Coral Sea or South Pacific. The broad E’ly pattern which sets up in the Coral Sea gets disrupted next week by cold fronts but longer term looks to set up again as we move to the end of the month.
Model divergence remains pronounced for the outcomes from this, with GFS still suggesting some kind of trough/easterly dip and enhanced E’ly swells. The European model has a more subdued outlook with a weaker high and trade-wind band remaining further north in line with seasonal norms.
On it’s own that will see a broad E’ly fetch develop likely in the New Caledonia quadrant, extending into the South Pacific slot. GFS adds to that recipe for a round of (sizey) trade swell with a deepening trough in the Coral Sea which spawns a surface low mid week, currently modelled to track southwards into the Tasman.
We've got a better angled pulse of S/SE energy for tomorrow with decent winds through the morning.
We’ll see the low move slowly out to sea later tomorrow and generate an initial pulse of local, directional S swell before moving further into the Tasman with better angled swells produced for later in the week.