For the keen only

Hello Friends,

9-13 kts of ESE at 0830 under heavy overcaset skies that are entirely consistent with the forecast of a 95% chance of showers. As the pictures show, surface conditions were choppy but the 1.7m SSE swell was packing a 14-second period, so waves did at least have a little push. Plus faces on sets were into the chest-shoulder high range. And, apart from the lagoon entrances and the Manly stretch, Beachwatch is saying pollution is unlikely at most beaches. Tide hits a 0.47m low just before noon. Today’s expected high and the water temp are both 23C.

While the weather will likely be cloudy and showery all week, there might be a window of opportunity here and there. Tomorrow morning for instance might see lighter winds early and more east to the swell (although period looks ifffy), so maybe the odd possibility for the keen. The longer range models are showing us going into an extended period of strongish southerly wind and showery weather from Thursday onward. Swell size is predicted to come up into the 3 metre range potentially by Saturday.

Stay safe folks and mask up indoors because COVID is blooming up again. In mid-Feb the Northern Beaches were seeing 150-200 cases a day, by mid-March they were in the 5-600 range. As of 24 March, the 5-day average was just shy of 900. (source)