Western Australia Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Monday 11th July)

Best Days: Tuesday, early Wednesday protected spots in the South West

Recap

Large onshore waves Saturday with a mix of swells, building from the S/SW into the afternoon before easing Sunday.

The S/SW swell eased rapidly as expected with nothing of significance really left over today and along with a persistent onshore SW wind in the South West as the mid-latitude low over the Bight stalled a little longer than expected on Friday. Perth and Mandurah were cleaner with leftover 2ft sets.

This week (Jul 12 - 15)

There's been no real change to the inconsistent S/SW groundswell due across the coast tomorrow morning with Margaret River performing the best size wise. Inconsistent 5-6ft+ sets are due through the morning, easing off through the afternoon and further Wednesday. Perth probably won't get above 1-1.5ft, with 1-2ft sets in Mandurah.

Conditions are looking great with an offshore E/NE tending variable breeze and then less favourable NE tending fresh to strong N/NE winds Wednesday.

A low point in swell activity is due Thursday morning and strengthening N/NW winds will kick up a stormy NW windswell.

This NW windswell will be linked to a fetch of gale to severe-gale NW winds from a strong front approaching from the west. This front, the first in a series firing up under a strong protruding node of the Long Wave Trough to our west.

This front is forecast to project a fetch of W/SW gales towards us, generating a large W/SW groundswell that's due to arrive later in the day Friday.

A mix of easing NW windswell and weak short-range W'ly swell will arrive before the groundswell coming in at a messy 6-8ft in the South West and 2ft in Perth. The groundswell should kick late to an easy 10ft+ across the South West and 3ft+ in Perth, easing from a similar size Saturday morning.

There may be a brief reprieve in winds early Friday but most likely only light from the NW, freshening again through the day.

Saturday will then see strong W/NW winds as another cold front pushes into the state.

Another large pulse of W/SW groundswell will be linked to this front, generated on the backside of the initial frontal progression. A fetch of gale to severe-gale W/SW winds acting on an already active sea state should produce large another 10-12ft of W/SW groundswell for the South West later in the day but more so Sunday with 3-4ft sets in Perth with strengthening NW winds.

Longer term yet another large W/SW groundswell is on the cards for Monday but the onshore winds will continue as a result of the position of the Long Wave Trough across us. More on this Wednesday.