Large swells hit the southwest/southern coasts of TAS during the afternoon on Saturday with waves reaching 18 metres!. The wild surf conditions are a result of gale to storm force winds which developed over the Southern Ocean, formed from a large pressure difference between a deep low south of TAS and a strong high south of WA. The Marine conditions off the coast of TAS were about as extreme as they can get on Saturday. The Cape Sorrel wave buoy of southwest TAS, recorded a maximum wave height of 18 metres on Saturday afternoon, while the average wave heights reached 10 metres at the same time. There have been two slightly larger max wave heights recorded in the past year, but this was still close to record levels at the Sorrel Buoy. This huge swell also impacted parts of the VIC coastline during yesterday and today, with maximum wave heights of over 8 metres recorded near Melbourne. The Point Nepean wave buoy near the entrance to Port Phillip Bay recorded maximum wave heights of over 8m, with average wave heights of over 5 metres! The swell is now making its way into the Tasman Sea, creating large waves along the NSW coast but not as large as VIC or TAS, but caution advised.