Big swells and spring tides to hit Cornish coast along with 24-hour rain warning
People are being urged to stay safe around the coastline
A warning is going out as big swells and spring tides hit Cornwall's coastline.
CoastSafe is urging people to beware of tidal surges and overtopping over the course of the weekend.
On Friday, surfing and forecasts website magic seaweed posted to say that it looks like "this thing is on".
It is predicting that wave heights could reach 20ft in some areas.
"Today’s chart shows the first system just north of the Azores, already generating open-ocean wave heights of 20 feet or so, and the second system hard on its heels, just about to deepen explosively. The swells from these systems is now unstoppable. However, as stated yesterday, the local wind conditions are still very difficult to predict and depend heavily on the exact trajectory of the centre of the low.
"Current forecasts show the first system arriving in the Celtic Sea on Saturday, then diving south into France on Sunday, which will produce winds from an easterly quarter in mid areas such as Cornwall, Wales and south-west Ireland. The second system arrives slightly further north, hitting south-west Ireland late Sunday and then also turning south, passing over Cornwall and into the English Channel on Monday. The jury is still out for this one, but the models are currently suggesting that winds could be light and variable for a time during the first part of Monday, but then expected to revert to a westerly flow later as a third system approaches from the west.
"In summary, the biggest waves with the cleanest conditions are, at the moment, expected to be in south-west Ireland on Monday morning, with incredibly long periods of well over 20 secs at first; wave heights ramping up to 20 feet or so at exposed reefs, and light winds from an easterly quarter".
magic seaweed
It comes as a 24-hour yellow weather alert remains in force across the Duchy until 8pm on Saturday night.
The Met Office says that could cause flooding and travel trouble along with 50mm of rainfall in places.
"A band of heavy rain will move north-east across the area during Friday night, easing during Saturday morning, before another band of rain, some heavy, follows from the south into the afternoon, clearing again by evening.
"During this time, 15-25 mm of rain is likely across the area, with as much as 40-50 mm across parts of Dartmoor and along the south coast."
Met Office
You can check the latest weather warnings for Cornwall and the south-west here.