Wednesday
Weather
It was always a bit uncertain how stormy it would be, but they went and named it storm Barbara anyway. It will be fairly windy, but the severe weather that forced the UKMO to name the storm is the rain, because it will be heavy over Southeast England for the majority of the day. For us, it will be persistent and quite heavy from about 1 or 2am until about 11am. After that, we will only get the odd brief shower and things should gradually brighten up. However, we will have already received about 20mm of rain, so it will be a long time before the puddles have gone. The wind will be a fresh force 5 SW’ly for the majority of the day, just briefly increasing to a strong force 6-7 this evening whilst the rain clears through. Max temps will be 15-16°C in most places, but we might just scrape 17°C in Town.
Surf and the Water
The surf should be about 3-4 feet and fairly clean in the early morning. Apart from that, it’s probably going to be best left to windsurfers and kite-surfers. The tides will be on the shrink, with a high of about 9.2m at 10:20am, followed by a low of about 1.9m at 4:40pm.
Thursday
Weather
An improving day with much gentler SSW’ly winds, some cloud and the odd shower in the morning, followed by a beautifully sunny afternoon. The temperature will be about a degree lower than on Wednesday, but it should feel really pleasant, especially in Town.
Surf and the Water
The waves will be just 1-2 feet of sloppy left-overs, but when the wind is at its lightest then they could be clean enough for super-keen surfers to salvage a little fun. The tidal range will continue to shrink, with a high of about 8.3m at 11am, followed by a low of about 2.6m at 5:30pm.
Friday
Weather
Definitely not as nice as Thursday, with the WSW’ly wind gradually increasing to force 5-6, as the sky steadily becomes more cloudy and showery. The temperature only peaking at 15°C in Town, perhaps a bit less in other areas.
Surf and the Water
Choppy and still rather sloppy, but gradually getting slightly bigger. The best session will probably be around lunchtime, when the waves are about 2-3 feet and the tide is just starting to drop away from its 7.5m high.
The Weekend
Weather
The wind will be even stronger (perhaps even take force for a time on Saturday) but it will back to a SSW’ly direction, which will bring warmer air back to the islands. Saturday will peak at about 17°C, with dry weather and partial sunshine. Then Sunday will peak at about 16°C, with much more cloud and a few heavy showers or perhaps a more prolonged spell of rain.
Surf and the Water
The surf will be 4-6 feet on Saturday but it will be very difficult to deal with such a strong cross-offshore wind. On Sunday it should increase to 6-8 feet but don’t leave it too late, because the wind might just turn onshore in the late afternoon.
Next Week
Weather
The key words are likely to be 'unsettled' and 'stormy', due to ex-hurricane Epsilon making landfall over some part of the UK, as well as a couple of other smaller circulations that are likely to be spawned. Just how wet and windy we get, depends on whether these low-pressure systems pile into southern Britain or Northern Britain. We shall have to watch the evolution of the forecast and pin down the details nearer the time. Temperatures will most likely be very close to the late October average; with daily maxima of 14-15°C and nightly minima of 11-12°C.
Surf and the Water
Lots of surf, possibly rather massive at times, so there should be some north-coast sessions mixed in with the usual west-coast ones. Small tides at the beginning of the week, picking up to medium-large by Thursday and Friday.
The next forecast update will be with you on Thursday or Friday…
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