Saturday
Weather
The pristine sunlight/starlight of the past 60 hours (i.e. since Wednesday afternoon) has been due to the feed of cool dry air that has come to us from continental Europe. However, due to a slight repositioning of the high-pressure system, we are now switching to a gentle (force 2-3) SSW’ly airflow, which will gradually increase the mildness and the humidity. This means that it will be relatively cloudy, but still totally free of rain, drizzle and mist etc. The cloud will be thin enough to let a little sunshine slip through, but it won’t be that which raises the mercury in our thermometers, but rather the arrival of the new maritime air. Temperatures will start the day at 5-6°C, pick up to 8°C by evening and then carry on to 9°C during the night time (so definitely no ground frost this time).
Surf and the Water
The surf won’t be quite as perfect as the previous days, but it will still offer clean 2 foot waves to longboarders and keen kids. The water will be good for swimming too, especially if you wait until the end of the day when the air will be mildest and the tide will be highest (high water will be roughly 7.5m at 5pm).
Sunday
Weather
Further movement of the high-pressure system will cause the wind to veer further, this time to a WSW’ly direction and it might strengthen a little (force 3-4), meaning that the east coast will feel a bit more warm and comfortable than the west (9-10°C for the general max temp, but maybe a degree higher than that in Town). As for the weather, we will probably see the same cloud/weak sunshine ratio as on Saturday, and there is just the slimmest chance that we will catch a brief light shower. Currently these are expected to stay to the north of us, but they look fairly close at times, so we might just see the briefest spits and spots here and there.
Surf and the Water
Compared to recent days, the surf will be a bit of a damp squib, so maybe a good day to let your wetsuit get properly dry, or maybe re-wax your longboard ready for next week. Good swimming conditions out east again. High water will be about an hour before dawn and then about an hour after dusk (just under 8m each time).
Next Week
Weather
Despite the slight downturn in the weather over the weekend, it doesn’t look as though the trend will continue in that direction. Monday will see the high-pressure system strengthen over Northwest Europe again, returning us to that dry, fine but rather chilly SE’ly airflow. Going through Tuesday and Wednesday this will back to an E’ly direction, but stay very light. Then, on Thursday and Friday, it might strengthen just a little as it backs to a NE’ly direction (probably moderate force 4). This will lead to a small chance of a few light showers because, on that particular wind direction, showers develop where air is forced to rise as it squeezes through the Dover Strait, and sometimes those showers make it as far as the islands before they have dissipated entirely. However, even if that is the case, we will still be bone dry for the vast majority of the period, so hopefully the ground will become nice and firm again.
Surf and the Water
Whatever surf we get will be gorgeously clean as far as Thursday. Perhaps not so great when we finish the week with that cross-shore NE’ly. As for the size of the waves… 1-2 feet on Monday and Tuesday (probably picking up to 3-4 feet on Wednesday and Thursday, before dropping off again on Friday. As for the tides… they will carry on growing, albeit slowly, until they peak at about 8.7m at breakfast time on Thursday and Friday.
The next forecast update will be on Sunday evening…
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Swim Conditions
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