Guernsey Weather Fox

Thursday

Weather

A chilly force 4-5 W’ly wind will bring a full day of sunshine and showers, the showers being brief and most abundant in the morning, the sunshine being more lengthy and most abundant in the afternoon. Temperatures will rise from around 16°C at dawn, to 20°C in the early afternoon, and then dropping to about 15°C overnight.

Surf and the Water

Finally some proper 4-5 foot surf, albeit with a blast of onshore wind. That wind will mean that kitesurfers and windsurfers will obviously be loving it too, but they will get to exploit areas like L’Ancresse and Ladies Bay, while the surfers will only really find any action in the usual spots like Vazon and Portinfer. Meanwhile, the elements will naturally herd the sea-swimmers into the sheltered eastern spots like Fermain. Tides will be low around dawn and dinner time, and high at midday (roughly 7.3m).

Friday

Weather

Sunshine and showers again, the latter favouring the morning and the former favouring the afternoon. Winds will be much lighter and more comfortable than on Thursday, but they will be bringing cooler air in from the NNW. This should all balance out to give the same 20°C max, but the sunshine should feel nicer without the wind-chill effect, especially down on the south coast, where the wind should be almost filtered out entirely.

Surf and the Water

With a lighter wind (albeit onshore), the waves should be cleaner than on Thursday… starting off around 4 feet and gradually reducing to 2 feet. All coasts, except perhaps the east, will be smoother for swimming than the previous day, but the south coast will be the absolute cream of the crop. Tides will be low at breakfast time and dinnertime. High water will be just a tiny 6.7m at lunchtime.

The Weekend

Weather

Saturday morning just carries the slight chance of showers, but the rest of the weekend should simply be sunny. Winds will be ENE’ly both days …on Saturday they will only be light force 2-3, but on Sunday they will strengthen to force 4-5°C. Temperatures probably peaking at 21-22°C each day, and falling to a 17°C each night.

Surf and the Water

The surf will only be 1 foot (maybe the odd lucky 2 footer but its doubtful). Kids and SUP riders will probably be able to have some fun with it though. Saturday’s surf will be clean but Sunday’s will have an annoyingly strong crosswind, which will probably be death of it. Swimming conditions will be best on Saturday. Then on Sunday, the good stuff will be confined to the south coast, and perhaps to the northern corners of the west-coast bays. Tides will be low around breakfast time and high in the mid-afternoons (6.4m and 6.6m respectively).

Next Week

Weather

An unsettled week, but not necessarily a cool one, because the wind will occasionally be very light and accompanying sunshine, but otherwise a brisk S’ly or E’ly and bringing thundery showers in from the warmer continent. Max temps will likely be 22°C on the coolest days and 24°C, making it just a whisker above the August average. Timing of showers is pretty much impossible to pin down at this early stage, but the likelihood is that there will be some pretty heavy downpours at times, probably adding at least 20mm to the August rainfall total by the end of the week.

Surf and the Water

The surf will be pretty much flat on Monday and Tuesday, then 2-3 feet through the latter part of the week. West-coast conditions should generally be clean, either due to the wind being very light, or from a favourable S’ly or E’ly direction. Tides will be low around lunchtime and high around dinnertime (increasing from 7.1m on Monday to 9m on Friday).