Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast (issued Friday 28th March)

Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Friday 28th March)

Best Days: Sat: peaky NE swell with early W/SW winds in Sydney (S'ly elsewhere). Sun: Small mix of S'ly and NE swell with improving conditions.

Recap: Fun peaky E/NE swell both Thursday and Friday, along with a small long period S’ly swell today. Generally light to moderate N/NE winds, lighter early mornings.

This weekend (Mar 29-30)

No major changes for the weekend forecast. The small south swell that graced the coast today will ease in size overnight, leaving us with a predominant NE thru' E/NE swell for Saturday. We’re looking at peaky waves somewhere in the 2ft range, possibly the odd 2-3ft bomb at exposed swell magnets, but freshening S’ly winds will deteriorate conditions about most of the coast throughout the day. 

The Sydney region and possibly the Hunter coast should still see a brief period of early offshore winds for the first few hours of the day, but it won’t last long so get in early for the best surf. Otherwise, the southerly breeze will confine the cleanest waves to protected southern corners. 

This low will kick up a minor short range S’ly swell into the afternoon that’ll persist through early Sunday morning (2ft+ south facing beaches, smaller elsewhere) before easing throughout the day. Conditions will improve on Sunday though as the low slides away from the coast, creating lighter winds (although we will still be at risk of a moderate S/SE breeze in some areas). Small residual energy from the E/NE will also pad out Sunday but there won’t be much size in it.

Next week (Mar 31 onwards)

The weekend’s low will slowly slip to the south-east early next week, which will reduce its swell potential for the East Coast quite a bit. So, only small surf is expected from this quadrant on Monday and Tuesday. 

Elsewhere, a steady tradeflow through the northern Tasman Sea will ensure a very small but long-lived supply of E/NE swell through much of next week. Essentially, this source will keep the open beaches from becoming flat. In any case don’t expect anything great from this region either.

Otherwise, the Tasman Sea is expected to remain rather quiet up until about next Friday when we may see a small low pressure system form off the South Coast, that may give rise to a solid short-range S/SE swell through the end of next week and over much of next weekend. More on this in Monday’s update.