Victorian Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday April 1st)

Best Days: Selected spots for the desperate on the Surf Coast Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon for the keen all locations

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Easing SW swell all weekend with strong SE winds tomorrow, fresh SE Sun
• SE windswell all weekend, smaller Sun
• Easing SE windswell Mon with light W/SW tending fresh SW winds
• Small, inconsistent, mid-period W/SW swell building Tue easing slowly Wed
• Light W/NW tending light SE winds Tue, fresher S/SE tending SE Wed

Recap

A good kick in size yesterday though destroyed by strong S/SE winds while this morning the surf is easing and winds are around to the SE, not ideal at all.

This weekend and next week (Apr 2 - 8)

A deep and powerful low is currently strengthening further off the southern NSW coast, squeezing against a strong high that’s slowly muscling in from the Bight, to our west. This is bringing strong winds from the south-eastern quadrant and with the low due to retrograde to the south-west and west (closer towards us while weakening) through the weekend, it’ll continue to bring poor winds.

Strong, gusty SE breezes are due tomorrow with a mix of easing mid-period SW swell and localised SE windswell, still fresh on Sunday but with no size or power left. The Mornington Peninsula will be easing from 3-4ft tomorrow with 2-3ft junky waves on the Surf Coast, smaller and 2-3ft to the east Sunday with 2ft of SE windswell to the west.

On Monday winds will shift around to the W/SW and then strengthen from the SW as we fall under the backside of the low but swell wise there’ll be nothing of note left. The Surf Coast may see early W/NW winds but with a weak, easing 1-2ft of SE windswell.

As touched on in the previous updates, the strength, breadth and size of the strong high moving in from the Bight will put a block across our main swell windows resulting in no significant swells into next week.

A small and very inconsistent, mid-period W/SW swell is due to build through Tuesday, peaking Wednesday. This has and is still being generated by a relatively weak but persistent though distant mid-latitude frontal progression south-west of Western Australia.

The Surf Coast isn’t expected to see any major size with infrequent 2ft+ sets possible on the magnets Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, with the Mornington Peninsula picking up 3-4ft+ surf. Winds will favour the Surf Coast Tuesday morning with a light W/NW breeze (tiny in the morning), shifting light SE into the afternoon, with the beaches east of Melbourne being the pick. Wednesday looks poor as a trough brings a stronger S/SE breeze.

Another high will move in behind the trough on Wednesday, shifting winds to the E/SE through Thursday and Friday. Swell wise, another weak mid-period W/SW swell is due Friday but below the size on Tuesday/Wednesday’s.

Longer term small, weak mid-period W/SW swells look to persist into next weekend and early the following week but we’ll review this next week. Have a great weekend!