Wednesday
Weather
A thoroughly cloudy and occasionally misty day. Very similar to Tuesday in terms of temperature and visibility. Gentler winds though… just a light force 2 SE’ly in the morning and then a light force 3 S’ly in the afternoon. As for the rain, much lighter and less frequent than on Tuesday. This time it will only be occasional light drizzle. Temperatures hovering around 10-11°C all day, then dropping to about 8-9°C overnight, when it also gets much wetter and a bit windier.
Surf and the Water
Super-clean surf, gradually increasing from 2 feet to 4 feet. Nice calm water for swimmers in the morning, almost as smooth in the afternoon. Tides will be low at 9:10am and high at 3:20pm (6.8m).
Thursday
Weather
A thoroughly wet day and maybe a very windy one. This is the real uncertainty. Coincidentally there is a chance of gales or severe gales around 9pm, which is just when the wind spiked last Thursday. However, on this occasion, only a few of the computer models are predicting this, whilst the majority of models don’t give us anything stronger than a force 5-6 S’ly. If we do end up with the gentler winds, then they are also likely to spike in the afternoon rather than the evening. So yes, the best thing is to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, pack your loose objects away. If your ladder is still leaning against the wall, making repairs form last week, then best pack the ladder and all your other items away in a nice safe place, just in case. Max temps will be similar to Wednesday… around 10°C. Night time min temps will be a bit lower though, dropping to 5 or 6°C, when skies clear towards dawn Friday.
Surf and the Water
Super-clean surf, increasing dramatically from 1-2 feet at dawn, to 1bout 10 feet by dusk. Not a great day for swimming, but potentially fantastic for kitesurfing and windsurfing. Tides will be low at 10:15am and high at 4:20pm (7.3m).
Friday and The Weekend
Weather
This is the finer end of the week by a long shot… three days of sunny spells coming and going, probably only punctuated by cloud rather than any showers. Temperatures will be a tad lower than the wet end of the week, but with finer weather and lighter winds it will feel a lot nicer… daily maxima of 9°C, nightly minima of roughly 4-5°C. Fridays winds will be SSW’ly moderate force 4-5, Saturday’s winds will be force 3-4 SE’ly, then Sunday’s will most likely be force 2-3 E’ly (making the west coast the 4 loveliest area to enjoy the beautiful outdoors).
Surf and the Water
Three days of incredible surf, Friday likely being the most epic of all, with powerful 8-10 foot waves breaking on the Islands major reefs. Saturday might be just as huge and epic but there is a chance that the wind will be more cross-shore than offshore. Sunday should then be lovely and clean again but with much smaller waves, dropping from about 5 feet at dawn to 3 feet by dusk. The sea will always be smoothest in the west, with respect to wind, but obviously not with respect to swell. Thus Sunday will be the best day of all for swimming. Tides will be low around midday, and high before dawn and after dusk (increasing from 7.5m on Friday to 8.4m on Sunday).
The next forecast update will be on Friday evening…
Previous Weather Fox ForecastsTide Tables
Swim Conditions
Ormering
Lihou Causeway