South Australian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday December 12th)

Best Days: Desperate surfers protected spots tomorrow morning South Coast, possibly Mid Coast for the desperate Wednesday morning

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Weak S/SW windswell tomorrow with strong W/NW winds ahead of a SW change mid-morning
• Mid-period S/SW swell Wed with fresh to strong S/SW winds (S for a period early on the Mid but tiny)
• Mid-period S/SW swell Thu with gusty S/SE winds
• Easing surf Fri with mod-fresh SE tending strong S/SE winds
• New, moderate sized S/SW groundswell mixed with S/SE windswell Sat with strong SE tending S/SE winds
• Easing surf Sun with E-E/SE tending S/SE winds

Recap

Fun surf across the exposed beaches Saturday with a drop in swell but cleaner conditions that held into the evening ahead of a cool SW change.

This change created poor conditions yesterday along with a weak, building windswell across both coasts into the afternoon.

Today conditions are bumpy and small across the South Coast, semi-stormy and to 1-2ft on the Mid.

This week and weekend (Dec 10 - 16)

The standard summer south-east pattern is set to move in this week, with a strong, blocking high expected to setup to our west while at the same time, a couple of surface troughs will push up and over Victoria, stalling off the east coast of Tasmania.

This will result in persistent, poor S/SE-SE winds along with smaller levels of SW groundswell thanks to the blocking effect of the high.

In saying this, tomorrow morning will provide the only window of cleaner conditions across the South Coast with a gusty W/NW breeze but weak SW windswell to 2ft to nearly 3ft. Winds will quickly revert back to the SW mid-morning and persist into the afternoon as a secondary trough pushes up and into us.

This will bring a moderate sized mid-period S/SW swell for Wednesday to 3-4ft across Middleton but with fresh to strong S/SW winds across Middleton, moderate to fresh S tending S/SW on the Mid. Size wise though the Mid Coast looks to be tiny and to 1-1.5ft.

Winds will start shifting S/SE on Thursday as the high moves a little further east, but with nowhere to really recommend thanks to the S/SW swell energy.

Easing surf is due on Friday with a moderate to fresh, morning SE breeze, strong and S/SE into the afternoon, with similar breezes Saturday.

A fun sized S/SW groundswell will be spoilt by this wind on Saturday, generated by a strong low forming to the south-southwest of Western Australia today. It'll track east-southeast but we should still see 3ft sets across Middleton, with similar sized sets from a S/SE windswell.

Moving into Sunday, there's a chance winds shift more E'ly in the morning, but the quality of surf will still be fairly average.

Into next week slightly more favourable winds are on the cards, but there's nothing too major due swell wise unfortunately. Check back on Wednesday for any change to the situation.