Australia

Wind, swell & tides for Australia

Western Australia

Unlike any other continent, Australia has direct, unimpeded exposure to the Southern Ocean and its mountainous seas. The Roaring Forties storms that circulate around the 40ºS latitude form a belt of efficient swell producers, spraying both the west-facing and south-facing coasts of Western Australia. Long-period groundswell out of the S to WSW is guaranteed for most of the year, with only Dec-Feb dropping slightly in swell height and interval.

The Northwest is fractionally less consistent than the Southwest corner around Margaret River, where winter regularly brings 20ft+ swells over 15secs for months on end, but the closer proximity to the storms means winds are stronger and often W-NW in this part of the state. In fact, the Batavia coast may have the Goldilocks conditions between the two with 100% swell consistency from July to Sept, partnered with dominant E-SE winds. Perth suffers from swell shadowing by Rottnest and the Fremantle Doctor brings the summer sea breeze from Oct to March when sea and land temps vary the most.

The vast south-facing coastline from Cape Leeuwin to the SA border in the Great Australian Bight is best described as rugged and windy. The S-SW swells overpower the bulk of the beaches, which require some kind of N wind and that is far more likely in the winter months. SE swells off the back of lows heading east are good for the Albany to Esperance stretch and the dominant W winds are offshore in some protected corners. SE winds are dominant from Nov-April, before swinging more SW-NW.

The Southern Indian Ocean current becomes the West Australian Current as it turns northwards, bringing cold water out of the west, which is compounded by the blob of upwelling stationed off Southwest WA. The shallow, slow Leeuwin Current brings warm coastal eddies southwards and into the Great Australian Bight, making winter sea temperatures warmer than summer. Tides are huge in the far north of WA reaching 11.8m, but the surf zones are usually below 2m on a semi-diurnal or diurnal pattern.

Southern Australia

Once the Roaring Forties low pressure systems enter the Great Australian Bight, they lose little intensity and continue to bombard the South Australian coastline with S-SW swell. SE winds are dominant from Nov-April, before swinging more SW-NW. The surf just keeps getting bigger in the state of Victoria, where S swells are often the best and some spots need the rarer windswells out of the SE. The SE-facing coast of The Great Ocean Road is resplendent with righthand points and protection from the SW-NW gales that blow through summer and winter respectively. Depending on their latitude, these spinning storms continue on their easterly course, blasting south or over the top of Tasmania, pounding the inaccessible western coast, then sending ultra-consistent 10-12ft @ 12secs SW swell wrapping around onto the eastern coast and hopefully swinging to a more due S or even SE swell for some of the sheltered spots that aren’t lashed by the strong W-NW winds.

The West Wind Drift or Antarctic Circumpolar Current directly affects the southern shores and Tasmania, despite the Leeuwin Current making it all the way to the Tasman Sea. Full rubber, year-round, is the southern surfer’s lot, especially where seasonal upwelling occurs in SA south of Cactus, Yorkes and down to the border with Victoria. Tidal range hits 2.5m near Adelaide, 3.2m off the Great Ocean Road and almost 4m for the Tasmanian north coast. These are exceptions to what is usually a 1-2m range along the southern coast where both diurnal inequality and semi-diurnal tides can be found.

Eastern Australia

As the southern ocean low pressure systems spin into the Tasman Sea, the fetch for due S swell then SE swell opens up along the entire East Coast all the way to southern QLD. Like all east-facing coasts, consistency drops markedly compared to the west and south, along with swell height, period and the ratio of solid groundswell to windswell. Proximity is key, illustrated by the average stats for mid-winter in southern NSW as 8ft @ 9 secs, dropping to 6ft @ 9secs in Sydney. Further north consistency and size rises slightly as E windswell adds to the mix, but the real East Coast saviour is the summer cyclone swell. From November to early May, an average of 10 storms will form in Australian waters and around 6 will make landfall. Trying to predict a cyclone’s path is near impossible, but generally speaking, a Coral Sea cyclone will wind-up in the warmer waters and either head towards Queensland, or parallel the coast and head south towards New Zealand. This means that cyclone swell is exclusively from the NE for most of the eastern seaboard and sometimes due E for Queensland and the Far North Coast of NSW.

Summer is also characterised by NE sea breezes, which blow in as the land heats up, providing some small choppy windswells. In northern regions the winds tend more SE from the beginning of the year. During the winter months the winds can be a cold SW from the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, resulting in 6 months of S-SW for southern and central NSW, but further north it becomes increasingly S then turns SE for the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

The warm, southwards-flowing, East Australia Current tempers the winter water temps in the southern half of the East Coast, while Queensland receives warmth directly from the South Equatorial Current. Tides range from 1m-2.1m and are usually semi-diurnal odd in NSW and even out into QLD.

Northern Australia

The Great Barrier Reef remains an interesting surfing enigma, as there is definitely surf along its outer frontier. While PNG, the Solomons and New Hebrides can filter a bit of Pacific swell, there’s enough open ocean at the end of the southern Pacific trade winds corridor. Most cyclones form in this region so there are definitely seasonal opportunities. The northern coasts or top end of Australia is fairly devoid of surf apart from a handful of days in wet season Darwin when a low pressure stations off the coast to the NNW or a cyclone tracks west to east. Cyclone swells can also bring surf to the remote NW-facing coast of WA, but the extensive continental shelf, fringing reefs and massive tides make it a waste of time compared to the rest of the country.

The top end of Australia experiences macro tidal ranges from 4m to 11.8m and actually dictates if there will be any rideable surf or not. The South Equatorial Current brings year-round warmth to all northern Australian waters.