Western Australian forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday January 29th)

Best Days: Protected spots for the keen in the South West Friday morning and Sunday morning, Wednesday morning all locations

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Small-mod sized SW groundswell building tomorrow PM, with a slightly smaller, reinforcing SW swell for Fri
• Strong S/SE winds tomorrow ahead of sea breezes, fresh S/SE Fri AM ahead of sea breezes
• Small-mod sized mid-period SW-S/SW swell building Sat PM, easing steadily Sun
• Mod-fresh S/SE tending S/SW winds Sat, strong SE tending S/SW Sun
• Large mix of mid-period SW swell and groundswell building Tue with strong SE tending S winds, easing slowly Wed with strong E/SE tending S/SW winds

Recap

Our new pulse of mid-period swell kicked in nicely yesterday with strong offshore winds and 4-5ft waves across the South West, tiny and hot to the north.

Today the swell was hanging in nicely under stiff offshore winds again with it due to ease through the day along with strong sea breezes.

This week and next (Jan 30 - Feb 7)

Tomorrow morning is expected to start a little smaller than today, but through the afternoon a new SW groundswell is due to fill in, generated by a tight but healthy low that formed around the Heard Island region earlier this week.

Building surf to 5-6ft is due across the South West through the afternoon with tiny waves to the north, easing Friday. As the swell eases Friday though a reinforcing mid-period swell is due to be in the water, generated by a weak frontal progression that’s currently south-west of us.

This should maintain 4-5ft sets across the South West with 1-1.5ft sets in Mandurah tiny in Perth.

Local winds look less favourable and strong from the S/SE tomorrow morning, weaker to the north ahead of gusty sea breezes, with Friday coming in a touch better with a little less strength to the S/SE breeze.

All in all protected spots will offer the best waves but be smaller.

Saturday looks smaller as S/SE winds persist, while into the afternoon and more so Sunday morning, a fresh pulse of small mid-period SW-S/SW swell is due, generated by a small, weak low moving in towards us while strengthening Friday.

No major size is due from this system with the South West likely to hit 4-6ft with 1-1.5ft sets across Perth and Mandurah, easing steadily through the day Sunday.

Winds are a bit better and look SE through the morning on Sunday ahead of storing sea breezes, with Monday coming in smaller along with strong S/SE winds.

With this in mind Sunday morning currently looks the best of the near term period for the South West.

Next week shows better swell and surf potential across the state as a strong, slow moving polar low forming south of South Africa today pushes slowly east while generating a persistent fetch of gales.

The low is due to weaken but maintain a strong fetch of W/SW winds while projecting slowly towards us on the weekend, with a large mix of mid-period and SW groundswell to result.

Both should start to build Tuesday with the groundswell arriving into the afternoon, peaking overnight and easing Wednesday.

The South West should reach 8-10ft into Tuesday evening, 2-3ft Mandurah and 2ft Perth under strong SE tending S/SE winds.

Wednesday looks the pick as the swell eases from a similar if not slightly smaller size under strong, morning E/SE winds.

Longer term there’s nothing too significant on the cards so try and work around next week’s groundswell.