Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa forecast (issued Tue 18th Feb)

Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Tuesday 18th February)

Best Days: Monday next week onwards

This week and weekend (Feb 18 - 23)

There hasn't been too much action in the Indian Ocean the last few days and this will result in only small and very inconsistent levels of background swell energy across most of the Indonesian archipelago over the coming week.

Exposed south-west facing beaches will be bumpy and choppy with moderate to some-times fresh W'ly winds. Protected east facing breaks will be cleanest but tiny.

Next week onwards (Feb 24 onwards)

Some better but very inconsistent SW groundswell pulses are due to arrive through Sunday and early next week across the region as a flurry of polar fronts fire up in and around the Heard Island region over the coming days.

Unfortunately the storm activity will be quite some distance away from the Bali region (5-6,000km) and there'll be no significant frontal system aiming a consolidated fetch towards us. More so bursts of 30-35kt winds over active seas, setting in motion a couple of pulses of medium sized and very inconsistent SW groundswell.

The first pulse should fill in Sunday afternoon and peak Monday but a better pulse is due on Tuesday, peaking around 3-5ft at exposed spots to the SW swell.

Winds are a little tricky at the moment as we may see a tropical low deepening off the North West Australian coast affecting the local area, but we'll most likely see a weaker W'ly flow favouring slight protected east facing breaks, while more open spots may still be a little wind affected.

Longer term there's nothing major on the cards, with a blocking high setting up west of Western Australia leaving us to rely on similar long-range and inconsistent swell energy expected at the start of next week.

Click the links below for a location specific forecast:
Bali
Central Java
Sumbawa