Wednesday
Weather
It’s still looking like the wettest day of the week, but the low-pressure system that is responsible for all the rain, is now expected to pass over northern France, rather than directly over the Channel Islands. This will have a slight effect on the wind and the timings of onset and clearance. Starting at dawn, it should be dry and reasonably bright, with a gentle S’ly breeze. The wind will back to a moderate SE’ly direction through the morning and the cloud will then thicken up, but the rain probably won’t arrive until lunchtime. Then we are looking at an afternoon and evening of persistent and rather heavy rain, as the wind gradually veers to a N’ly direction. Max temp… 11-12°C. Total rainfall 10-20mm (big puddles).
Surf and the Water
The west-coast waves will be even cleaner than the previous days but they will be pretty small… just 2-3 feet. The tides will be about 8.9m high at 7:50am and 9m high at 8pm.
Thursday and Friday
Weather
Two mostly (perhaps entirely) dry days with WNW’ly breezes, bringing rather cool air. The temperature will climb highest on Thursday (14°C) because this is when the wind will be lightest (just force 3) and the sunshine will be brightest. Through Friday, the wind will pick up to force 4 and cloud will gradually thicken ahead of some overnight rain, so the temperature will only manage 12-13°C on that day.
Surf and the Water
Sloppy choppy west coast waves, although the lightness of Thursday’s onshore wind means that they could still be reasonably clean on that day. The best swim spots will generally be on the east coast, but some south-coast spots (Petit Bot, Saints Bay and Moulin Huet) will also be nice and smooth. The tides will stay on the large side, dropping off very slowly, with breakfast and dusk highs of 8.8m on Thursday and 8.6m on Friday.
The Weekend
Weather
The weekend forecast has gone a bit downhill I’m afraid. The temperature won’t climb any higher than 13-14°C on each day. Sunshine and showers is the story for both days. However, the showers will be very few and far-between on Saturday, which will allow the sunshine to really dominate the day. On Sunday however, the showers will be much more frequent and the sunshine will be reduced to a few brief glimpses. As for the winds; fresh force 5 W’ly on Saturday, backing to a SW’ly direction through Sunday.
Surf and the Water
Surfers will only have choppy 3-4 foot waves to play with on Saturday, but there should be some clean 5-8 foot waves to look forward to on Sunday. As for the swimming, the smoothest water will generally be at Havelet and Fermain, but there will also be some sheltered nooks along the north and west coast during the mid-morning high tides.
Next Week
Weather
With winds generally bringing air from the western half of the compass, we can expect a very similar week to the one before it. The daily headlines will be ‘sunshine and showers’, but the proportions will vary from day to day. This means that some days will be really quite pleasant, with temperatures comfortably reaching the mid-teens, but other days will be relatively rotten, with temperatures only just managing to reach the low teens.
Surf and the Water
Plenty of wave action on the west coast (albeit mostly messy), thanks to the constant presence of Atlantic low-pressure systems. There should be plenty of opportunities for windsurfing and kitesurfing too. Small tides all week, with highs in the late mornings on Monday and Tuesday, moving to the early afternoons through the rest of the week.
The next update should be with you on Thursday or Friday…
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