Monday (NY’s day)
Weather
A day of cloudy skies and occasional showers (not as heavy as the previous day), followed by an evening and overnight period of persistent rain and drizzle (becoming heavy at times). Wind-wise, it’s a slight relaxation from the previous day… this time we will have a moderate force 4 to fresh force 5 WSW’ly wind around dawn, backing SSW’ly by the afternoon, but not really increasing to strong force 6 until we get close to dusk. The temperature steadily climbing from around 9°C at dawn to 11°C by lunchtime and then 12°C by midnight.
Surf and the Water
The waves will shrink from around 10 feet at dawn to 6 feet by dusk, but they will become cleaner and cleaner as they do so, meaning that surfers should welcome this new year in a memorable fashion. Swimmers will probably prefer the morning for their new-years splash around, due to higher tide and lighter wind. Those tides will be high at 9:30am (roughly 8.1m) and low around 4pm.
Tuesday
Weather
A sopping wet and rather uninspiring start, with the strong force 6-7 SW’ly wind bringing persistent and occasionally heavy rain and drizzle. In the early to mid-afternoon the wind will veer W’ly and gradually reduce to fresh force 5, whilst the weather becomes dry and patches of blue sky start to reveal themselves. As for the temperature, that will start the day around 12°C, then soon rise to a max of 13°C and hold steady until mid-afternoon, before gradually falling to an overnight min of 10°C.
Surf and the Water
Reversing the trend of the previous day, the surf will actually increase from cleanish 8-10 feet at dawn to a choppy 10-12 feet by dusk. Windsurfing conditions will be suitable for experts. Swimming conditions will really be confined to the very very sheltered bays, such as Fermain. High tide wil be roughly 7.8m around 10am, then low tide will be at 4:30pm.
Wednesday and Thursday
Weather
A couple of similar days with bright or sunny spells being punctuated by occasional showers and rainbows. The daytime temperature will be similar on both days (maxima of roughly 11°C) but the night time temperature will differ slightly (with a min of around 9°C on Wednesday night and just 7°C on Thursday night). The main reason for that change in min temps will be the weakening of the wind… W’ly throughout these two days, but steadily declining from strong force 6-7 on Wednesday morning to light force 3-4 on Thursday night.
Surf and the Water
Onshore winds will make for choppy surf, but it will be slightly cleaner late Thursday, due to that wind being lighter (west-coast wave heights gradually reducing from about 12 feet to 8 feet). Obviously this means that Windsurfers will be more interested in Wednesday. As for the swimmers… east coast will always be best, and Thursday definitely looks like the better day of the two. High tides will be in the late mornings… 7.4m and 7.1m respectively. Low tides will be soon after dusk.
Friday and The Weekend
Weather
Apart from just a couple of isolated showers each day (if that), we are looking at three days of very welcome settled weather. The wind will be coming from a NW’ly direction on Friday (mostly light force 3) and then a NNE’ly through the weekend (mostly moderate force 4, but occasionally fresh force 5 on Sunday). Skies will be a mixed bag of cloud and sunshine, and the best of the sunshine will probably coincide with the lightest winds on Friday, meaning that should be the warmest of these three days, with a max of 10-11°C, before Saturday’s lower max of 8-9°C and then Sunday’s even chillier max of 7-8°C. Wrap up warm and enjoy the dry weather though. For the most sheltered and comfortable conditions, just head down to the south coast cliffs and beaches.
Surf and the Water
Friday will be the best day to go surfing on the west coast, due to the lightness of the onshore wind (fun-size waves… most probably around 4-5 feet). Swimming conditions might be ok in many bays around the Island on Friday but they will definitely be best along the south coast through the weekend (preferably around high tide). Those tides being 6.9m high at 12:30pm on Friday, 1:40pm on Saturday, then around 3pm on Sunday.
The next forecast update will be on Wednesday evening…
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