South-east Queensland and Northern NSW Forecast by Steve Shearer (issued Wed Aug 6th)

Features of the Forecast (tl;dr)

• Easing but still solid E swells Thurs, easing further Fri
• Wind shifting more S/SE-SE Thurs and then freshening Fri as swells slowly ease
• SE windswell building Fri
• Low forming off CQ coast Sat, with sizey SE-E/SE swells building later Sat into Sun
• Sizey but easing swells Mon into Tues
• Better quality E swells Wed into Thurs with lighter winds expected

Recap

Pumping E swell through yesterday and today with light winds all day supplying premium conditions. Size yesterday was in the 6 occ. 8ft range across NENSW exposed breaks, grading smaller 4-5ft into SEQLD. It’s only come down a fraction today with solid 6-8ft surf across  NENSW supplying large and challenging surf for experienced surfers, more user friendly in SEQLD. A memorable swell event for winter.

Solid swells on the Sunny coast beachies with a hard paddle out ahead

This week (Aug 4-8)

No great change to the f/cast for the week. The slowly retreating fetch is continuing to send strong E swells with just a slow easing trend in play.

We should see size back to a more manageable 4-6ft through tomorrow in NENSW,  3-4ft in SEQLD, on a slow easing trend. 

Further downwards into Fri with 4ft surf easing to 3ft or so during the day.

Local winds will be less friendly through this period as a large high pressure ridge builds in, with morning winds tomorrow W-W/SW early, tending SW-S not far after sunrise then tracking S’ly to SE’ly at fresh paces. There’ll still be options with the E swell angle for the Points but all the open beaches will be wind affected.

Winds shift more straight SE on Fri so apart from a brief window on the Southern Gold Coast it’ll be a points only day with small peelers about.

This weekend (Aug 9-10)

A high pressure ridge remains parked up over the eastern seaboard over the weekend as a strong high sits unseasonably southwards (just to the SE of Tasmania through Sat). In addition another sub-tropical low is expected to form over the weekend, this time off the QLD coast before drifting off towards the east and reconsolidating near the North Island.

Looks like a trough deepens into a low Sat off the CQ/Wide Bay coast, with increasing SE winds Sat on the Sunshine Coast, remaining mod/fresh elsewhere. We should see an increase in short range SE-E/SE swell later Sat into the 4-6ft range and firing up the Points, building a notch into Sun.

We’ll fine-tune that on Fri as we get closer to the low’s formation. 

Next week (Aug 11 onwards)

Easing short range swells through the week with plenty of size Mon into the 3-5ft range dropping back to 3ft Tues.

SE winds will confine clean conditions to the north facing points through Mon, with a possibility of some beachies coming into play Tues.

By Wed we should see better quality but smaller E’ly swells filling in, holding through Thurs and Fri.

Winds should improve through this period with lighter S’lies then SW morning breezes as a front pushes through.

Low confidence this far out so check back Fri for the latest.

Further ahead does look more typical for the season with cold fronts  expected next weekend, only of minor/moderate strength at this stage of the game.

We’ll see how they look on Fri. Hope you’ve been getting some of this current E swell!