There’s been plenty of talk in recent days about the powerful front and trough that briefly brought winter back to the southeast. Anyone brave enough to venture towards the coast would have also seen the huge waves being driven into the coast in a strong southwesterly airflow behind the front. 

Victoria’s southwest coast and South Australia’s southeast coast have been battered by monstrous waves from this system, as a huge area of gale force winds allowed swells to build over several hundred kilometers, before crashing along the coasts of SA and southwest VIC Thursday night into Friday morning. 

Image: Significant wave heights off southwest VIC at 10am Fri 8th via WaveWatch 

On Thursday night, Cape du Couedic Light House, on Kangaroo Island recorded a peak significant wave height (Hsig) of 8.7m at 10pm ACST, with a peak height of a huge 14.8m. Less than 12 hours later, the wave buoy at Cape Bridgewater, near the town of Portland in southwest Vic recorded a peak Hsig of 8.8m at approximately 8:30am yesterday. Even in Tasmania, Cape Sorrell in the state's west recorded a Hsig value of 6.6m early on Saturday morning, with peak wave heights of 11.0m as another trough clipped southern Tas. 

Large waves even churned through Port Phillip, meaning residents of Melbourne didn’t have to travel far to get a look at some decent sized waves. Offshore from Sandringham, in Melbourne’s southeast, a peak Hsig of 2.77m was recorded just after 1pm yesterday as blustery winds took on a westerly component. Point Nepean, on the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula, recorded a peak wave height of 6.9m at about 9pm AEST on Friday night, with a Hsig of 4.23m an hour later, as WSW winds ramped up. 

The intensity of the waves was such that there was a Severe Weather Warning in place for damaging surf for southwest facing coasts of VIC throughout Friday. While this was cancelled in the evening, large waves are still forecast for the coming days.