Lots of surf and wind for the foreseeable future

Ben Matson picture
Ben Matson (thermalben)

South-east Queensland and Northern NSW Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Monday 9th September)

Best Days: Tues/Wed: protected points, southern corners etc. Thurs AM: clean conditions, and a nice round of easing SE swell, smaller in SE Qld. Fri: smaller, easing S'ly swell at south swell magnets south of Byron, with good morning winds. Sun: large S'ly swell with outer SE Qld points and protected NSW locations the best option. 

Recap: Saturday’s NE swell was a little patchy, though some locations - mainly Northern NSW, south from Byron - saw 2ft+ sets and offshore winds kept conditions clean. A new south swell built slowly during Sunday, offering 4-6ft sets at south facing beaches south of Byron by late afternoon and up to 4ft across the Tweed, though it was very small through SE Qld. Conditions were mainly good with offshore winds however unexpected sea breezes did develop here and there. Today saw a continuation of strong though flukey south swell, up to 5-6ft at south facing beaches south of Byron, 4-5ft on the Tweed and with a wide variety of size across SE Qld. Some exposed parts of the Gold Coast and the northern end of the Sunshine Coast delivered 3ft+ sets, other beaches were tiny to flat. Freshening W’ly winds have kept conditions clean ahead of an approaching SW tending S’ly change. 

(OT - shimmering Agnes Water this morning)

D'Bah on the pump this morning

Tiny corduroy on the Superbank

Not a lot of size at Surfers Paradise

Nice waves at Sunshine Beach this arvo

Tiny lines at Coolum

This week (Sep 10 - 13)

We’ve got another couple of days of windy conditions ahead, with stacks of southerly swell too.  

A strong pressure gradient between a large Tasman low and a high over the Bight will maintain fresh to strong southerly winds on Tuesday, reaching gale force for a period in the morning. They will ease back in strength on Wednesday though exposed locations (mainly Northern NSW) will see gusty conditions at times. One or two regions may see pockets of morning SW winds but they’ll be the exception rather than the rule - mainly SE Qld, and more likely Tuesday than Wednesday. 

The models are showing quite a bit of size for the next few days but I think it’s probably overcooking things thanks to a significant level of windswell contamination in the mix. Regardless, it won’t be small: south facing beaches south of Byron should see 6-8ft+ surf through Tuesday, easing from 6ft+ Wednesday, and your best options will be at sheltered points and southern corners where it’ll be much smaller. 

Across SE Qld, the swell direction will be very south on Tuesday so most beaches and outer points will see relatively small surf, however the fetch will broaden across the Tasman Sea during the day, so early Wednesday should see the direction slightly more S/SE, which will create better size prospects. Outer Gold Coast points should build from 2ft Tuesday morning to 3ft+ by the afternoon, holding a similar size early Wednesday before slowly easing into the afternoon. Exposed northern ends and south facing beaches will see more size (but remain quite wind affected), and on the balance, we’ll see slightly smaller size prospects across the Sunny Coast. 

Also in the mix on Wednesday - not that it’ll be easy to decipher beneath the S/SE swell - will be a new SE swell, generated by a fetch developing in western Cook Strait this afternoon. It’ll mainly favour Northern NSW, and should hold into Thursday with 3-5ft sets at exposed beaches - a little smaller elsewhere, including SE Qld, but with some fun waves at most beaches. 

In fact, Thursday morning is probably the pick of the forecast period as winds will have have throttled right back to become light W/NW, ahead of a moderate NE sea breeze. 

At the same time, the leading edge of a long period S’ly groundswell will make landfall across Northern NSW, having been generated by an intense low well south of the continent today.

This system is poorly aligned within our (acute) south swell window, but core winds are in the 50-55kt range and this will generate large swell periods near 18-19 seconds. They’ll bend into the Tasman Sea and push across Northern NSW during Thursday afternoon - perhaps not until late in the day, therefore the Mid North Coast may be the only beneficiary.

Additionally, this swell will be extremely fickle, only favouring a small number of reliable south swell magnets south of Byron (into Friday morning) with inconsistent 3ft+ sets. Elsewhere, expect smaller, slower easing swells from the SE around 2ft, with not a great deal of action across the outer SE Qld points. Conditions will remain clean through the morning with light winds ahead of the sea breeze. 

This weekend (Sep 14 - 15)

There’s stacks of south swell in store for the weekend. And a stack of wind too. 

The front tracking under Tasmania late Thursday will kick up some small south swell across Northern NSW for Saturday morning, but an unrelated front - quite powerful - will push in on top of this swell, generating a more dominant short range event that should push south facing beaches into the 6-8ft range by Sunday. We’ll see a late afternoon building trend across the Mid North Coast, but it won’t really kick in the Far North until Sunday.

Fresh SW winds early will veer strong S’ly, persisting into Sunday, so it’ll protected points only for this event - and the strong southerly direction will shave off a lot of size through SE Qld (though the outer points will probably be your best option for a paddle, with sets around 3ft). Expect very small conditions north of the border for the most part on Saturday.

More on this in Wednesday’s update. 

Next week (Sep 16 onwards)

This recent pattern of mid-latitude lows pushing through the Tasman Sea looks like they'll continue in some shape or form for the foreseeable future. It looks like next week will exhibit similar surf characteristics to this week, though I’ll have to leave it a few more days to fine tune the specifics. More on Wednesday!

Comments

Surfalot67's picture
Surfalot67's picture
Surfalot67 Monday, 9 Sep 2019 at 5:30pm

Those Dbah screen shots are very deceiving. The banks are rubbish, it looks amazing then unloads as a straight-hander on the shorey. Very few offering more than one turn, but it sure looks like it will be good! In fact, except for a couple of the points, its the same story from Dbah to The Spit - no banks.

linez's picture
linez's picture
linez Monday, 9 Sep 2019 at 6:45pm

Yep, agree about the banks

Mata's picture
Mata's picture
Mata Monday, 9 Sep 2019 at 6:04pm

Similar story on the northern end of the Sunny Coast. Lots of sand but only a handful of decent banks. Nearby is still providing the goods thankfully, but it’s kinda slim pickings

adsi's picture
adsi's picture
adsi Monday, 9 Sep 2019 at 7:21pm

Pretty rubbish around Byron Lennox too today. Lennox was ridonkulusly packed. Surfed mostly close out barrels instead. Disappointing

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Monday, 9 Sep 2019 at 7:23pm

south swells.

luckily last week flew under the radar with every day better than what it was today.

crg's picture
crg's picture
crg Monday, 9 Sep 2019 at 7:45pm

Significant sand shift down here the last few weeks. Go to spots have disappeared into deep holes and/or straight handers. One spot has been the main beneficiary of the shift up with banks longer term locals are calling the best in 10 years. Looks like it might be short lived with this back to back barrage of south swells??

southernsealspirit's picture
southernsealspirit's picture
southernsealspirit Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 5:16am

Yep it was frustrating watching yesterday on the open beach at Byron, too straight and wrong tide,
The surging tide pushed a few into the bay late in the avo

greg-n.williams's picture
greg-n.williams's picture
greg-n.williams Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 6:16am

This south swell event has virtually gone to waste. The exception is a couple of point breaks which have been a one in ten that doesn't close out, with crowds as they are the only option!

dangerouskook2000's picture
dangerouskook2000's picture
dangerouskook2000 Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 6:38am

Yep straighthanders on tweed coast too. All the banks along the east coast must be doing the same thing judging by the comments. Deep water going onto a squared off bank and then dumping onto a straight bank. Big holes out the outer banks too. Beaches are about 400 metres wide, with massive dropoffs at the dunes

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 7:03am

surprisingly small this morning.
but pretty much as expected: pushy S swell without much shape or definition and a lot of windswell contamination.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 8:57am

Windy 6ft+ sets on the Tweed this morning, though pretty low quality. Doesn't look like there's anywhere to surf.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 8:58am

Bigger at Sunshine today.
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thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Tuesday, 10 Sep 2019 at 9:03am

Pretty chunky at D'Bah (second image shows size nicely).


adsi's picture
adsi's picture
adsi Wednesday, 11 Sep 2019 at 11:18am

Rubbish waves from Byron to Ballina today even LP looked very average.
Gotta tell the guys doing morning reports to pull back on their ratings. I drive around checking expecting somewhere must have good waves to warrant such a rating but there aren't any, dunno what they're seeing that I'm not. Nothing even close to 7/10 waves around today.
Not having a crack, immensely appreciate what you guys do but just frustrating wasting time.

crg's picture
crg's picture
crg Wednesday, 11 Sep 2019 at 12:30pm

Classic race between the dropping tide and the swinging to the south wind down here. Got about an hour of low enough tide on an outside bommie before the wind clocked too far south and got around the corner and blew it out in minutes.
Fun whilst it lasted.

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Wednesday, 11 Sep 2019 at 1:38pm

very ordinary event, apart from Sunday when it went from flat to 4ft in a couple of hours.
not as much sand shifted as I thought.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Wednesday, 11 Sep 2019 at 1:41pm

I’m no local , but the sand around here is in some bizarre formations.

Can be a good or a bad thing depending on conditions.

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Wednesday, 11 Sep 2019 at 1:44pm

Be interesting to see how you fare tomorrow, swell muscled right up down here today, more east, punch and period. Just a little less size.