Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast (Fri 17th Jan)

Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra Surf Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 17th)

Best Days: Saturday for keen surfers, Sunday morning, Tuesday morning, 

Recap

Wednesday afternoon's increase in S'ly groundswell to an inconsistent 2-3ft across south facing beaches was mixed in with a similar sized NE windswell which built under strong NE winds.

This NE windswell held into yesterday morning while the S'ly swell backed off to an inconsistent 1-2ft. Conditions were far from perfect yesterday morning with a summery N/NE breeze, but this remain light for most of the day as the NE swell slowly dropped.

Today with no strong overnight NE winds the NE windswell was back to a smaller 1-2ft with light morning N'ly winds. We should see the swell kick to 2ft again this afternoon under fresh NE sea breezes.

This weekend(Jan 18 -19)

The NE windswell should kick up to a bigger 2ft+ across north-east facing beaches tomorrow as the northerly ridge down the coast strengthens overnight and persists tomorrow. Winds will be average all day and moderate to fresh from the N/NE tending NE.

A S'ly change overnight will cut off the in-feed of NE windswell resulting in a drop in size through Sunday from 1-2ft with S'ly tending S/SE winds.

Next week onwards (Dec 20 onwards)

A weak S'ly windswell and long-range S/SE groundswell will be in the mix on Monday but to no real size and with lingering S'ly tending SE winds.

Of greater importance is the arrival of a long-range E/NE groundswell from Tropical Cyclone June that's expected to arrive during the day and build to 2-3ft later in the evening across open beaches before hanging in a similar size Tuesday.

June should form between Vanuatu and New Caledonia this afternoon/evening and drift quickly south into an established trade-flow in the Coral Sea (pictured right).

Unfortunately June will continue tracking quickly south-southeast and across New Zealand, with only a short-lived and inconsistent pulse of E/NE groundswell expected from her.

Winds look OK Tuesday when the swell's expected to peak with a variable tending fresh E/NE breeze, so get in early for the best waves.

Longer term a mix of S'ly and E'ly windswells will keep small waves hitting open beaches but with average winds, while into the next week we may see some stronger E'ly swell developing across the region as further tropical activity impacts the East Coast. We'll provide another update on this on Monday.