South-east Queensland and Northern NSW Surf Forecast by James Casey (issued Monday 26th April)

Best Days: From the weekend onwards

Outlook:

• Longer period S swell to fill in on Saturday easing into Sunday
• Another S swell to move up the coast filing in Late Monday and ebbing and pulsing into Tuesday and Wednesday. Although strong S/SE winds will limit options. Best conditions early in the day
• Smaller for Thursday/Friday
• Potential for decent run of E/SE trade swell over weekend and further ahead

Recap

Well what a weekend it was with a long period (22 second registered on the Tweed Buoy) S swell moving in. From all reports there were good waves to be had with the MNC best on Saturday and N NSW best on Sunday. SE QLD mainly missed out due to the acute angle of the swell.

The peak of the swell seemed to be up around that 4ft mark and with light offshore winds the mornings really were the pick. Light seabreezes picked up in the afternoon although there were still quality waves on offer.

This morning it was close to flat for SE QLD but with nice conditions. South of the border was 3ft with light offshore winds keeping things clean early. Wind turned SW in the afternoon making it a bit bumper this afternoon. 

The start of this week

A weak S swell that will arrive tomorrow and remain around that 3ft mark until Wednesday. This swell originated from a weak front pushing up the east coast of Tassie. 

Mornings will have light SW winds but a ridge of high pressure will direct SE winds across the region each afternoon meaning southern corners will be your best option for cleaner waves in the afternoon waves. Mornings will be your best bet to get the most of the S swell on offer and clean conditions.

With the persistent S/SE winds for the first half of the there will be a bit of windswell added to the mix. This windswell will filter in better for the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast although it’ll only be a weak 2ft at the most. 

Into the end of the week

We will then enter a quiet period wave wise as a blocking high sets up over the southern Tasman preventing any decent S swells. Waves will be 2ft and under for Thursday and Friday before an E trade swell setup begins to build into the weekend.

On both Thursday and Friday we will have light and variable SW winds early tending SE in the afternoon. Waves will be small to tiny with just some windswell on offer. 

The weekend

The high in the southern Tasman will shift towards NZ as winds across the top of NZ will consistently direct E swell towards our coast. 

From Saturday we will begin to see a building E swell provide some more size. While winds won’t be offshore the persistent E/SE winds will deliver 3ft of swell across the region, smaller for the MNC. 

Sunday will see SE winds early building throughout the day but with 3-4ft of E/SE swell protected southern corners will still have decent waves

Next week

Further ahead we are looking at waves remaining in that 3-4ft range with winds more out of the S. A longer period swell will move in as winds north of NZ intensify with a potential low squeezing the ridge of high pressure and directing a decent swell later in the week. 

The timing and size of the incoming E groundswell depends on the evolution of the low so sit tight and check back in the coming updates.