How can one tell if the seabreeze is going to migrate up to Semaphore or stay at Seacliff?

Reason I ask is about 5 days ago, we had a southerly, you could see the wind line approach seacliff and then it stayed there all day - wicked, wicked day.

However yesterday, same conditions, a southerly, saw the windline come in and it was full on AC/DC plus sunscreen application, but before I could rig up, it downright died.

However back up on the cliffs I could look north toward Glenelg (and I assume Sems) and you could see it was still nuking all afternoon.

So what happened? On hot days, does the desert heat up and hoover up the southerly further north? So in effect the seabreeze effect gets more and more pronounced towards Outer Harbour, so at seacliff, the winds just continue North and don't come onshore till they are pulled in around Glenelg/Sems?

Really confused because I don't want to drive up to Sems if it will stay good at Seacliff, but how to know?

I also see that hardly any windsurfers got fooled into rigging up, so there are some smarts out there.

You are spot on Rudy. Seabreezes work when the cool sea air rushes in to replace the hot air that has heated up on the land and risen. The further north you go, the further the hills get away from the coast so hence lots of flat hot land.

Even if you get wind at Seacliff, you will usually find its much windier at Semaphore on a seabreeze.

Just track what the wind is doing on the live graphs on here at Outer Harbor and that will give you a fair indication of what is happening at Semaphore.

Good luck

Ive sailing been sailing seacliff the last couple days and I think a pretty goods indication of if it is going to die is the wind at sellicks. If your going to get a good gully wind (se) there it usually kills seacliff by like 4 when semaphore still cranks as bondy said because it is away from the hills.

brighton & glenelg is usually best between 2pm to 5.00pm.

semaphore is usually best between 4pm to 8.00pm.

wind is usually about 3-6 knots stronger at semaphore.

seacliff is least reliable for obvious reasons.

semaphore is most reliable for obvious reasons.

usual gear at brighton & glenelg will be 7m and 100L slalom board.

usual gear at semaphore will be 6m and 90L bump & jump.

so if you are keen, you can easily sail both on a good day.

Yes, as per "Bondage" post, on the typical seabreeze day, the further you go north on the Adelaide coast the windier it gets. Observations from metro coastal BOM stations at airport and black pole generally confirm this

Thanks all, really appreciate the tip about checking what is occurring at Selicks.

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rudyforest said...
Thanks all, really appreciate the tip about checking what is occurring at Selicks.

Sellicks Hill can be 20+ knts and there is still a seabreeze at sellicks beach and sailable at the mid - the meter is at the top of Mt Remarkable and is a really innacurate marker - We've sat there watching glassy sets roll in and its reading 25-30knts at the top of the hill and 20 knts on Main south road and it just never reaches the beach and then on sun set - bingo blows its nuts off till dawn

You may better off with the Noarlunga reading and have a look at the SurfSouth oz seaford cam - if its gone S-SE there its definately on the way