Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast (Fri 1st Nov)

Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 1st November)
Apologies for the computer model forecast downtime, we're battling some gremlins in the system but hope to have it back ASAP

This weekend (Nov 2-3)

There's not much on the cards for this weekend, with today's S'ly swell expected to fade away through tomorrow from 1-2ft across south facing beaches. Sunday won't be any better, with a tiny NE windswell not expected to top 1-1.5ft.

Next week (Nov 4-8)

In stark contrast to the weekend, next week will see a couple of large pulses of S'ly swell impacting the Southern NSW coast. A strong cold outbreak (pictured right) is expected to occur through the South-western Tasman Sea on Sunday evening.

Monday will be one of those days where you'll have to seek out a protected corner out of the wind, but not too protected as too miss most of the swell. This will be a result of fresh S/SW tending S/SE winds associated with the weather system, and size wise we're looking at 6ft+ waves across south facing beaches in Sydney with 8ft sets across the Hunter. Open beaches will be much smaller and in the 3-4ft range.

Tuesday and Wednesday should open up more options as the Tasman Low generates a more favourable S/SE groundswell. This will see more protected spots picking up more size, but winds again on Tuesday will play out similarly to Monday. Expect 6-8ft sets across south facing beaches, with 4-5ft waves at open beaches. The Hunter should be a touch larger, and swell magnets across the Southern NSW could possibly see the odd 10ft bomb.

Wednesday morning looks like the best time to surf with a large easing S/SE groundswell and morning SW winds. South facing beaches should drop from 6ft to occasionally 8ft, with 4-6ft waves at open beaches early. Less experienced surfers should stay out of the water until later in the week when things should settle down.

NW winds will kick in Thursday but get in during the morning to make the most of the easing SE swell. By Friday we'll be back to 2ft to maybe 3ft waves with a small NE windswell also in the mix.

Longer term (Nov 9 onwards)

There's a couple of possibilities longer term, mainly aimed around a deepening surface trough sliding up the East Coast. We're probably looking a building S/SE tending E/SE swell but we'll keep an eye on this.