Central QLD Forecaster Notes by Steve Shearer (issued on Fri 10th Feb)

This weekend and next week (Feb10-Feb17)

Central QLD: Easing surf as TC Gabrielle slides SE away from CQ

Plenty of pumping surf Thurs and into Fri, with size peaking in the 4-5ft range Fri morning, now easing back in size.

Pumping cyclone swell Fri morning

Severe tropical cyclone (Cat3) Gabrielle is currently tracking SE at about 21 knots and is located about 413 nm NE of Brisbane. Early incarnations of the TC as it was drifting SW showed a fetch of storm force to severe gale NE winds around the NE quadrant which produced plenty of size for the CQ coast.

Now that the low axis of TC Gabrielle has moved south of the CQ coast we’ll see diminishing swells.

TC Gabrielle sliding SE away from CQ with easing swells over the weekend

This severe storm is expected to undergo an extra-tropical transition through Friday evening, resulting in an expansion of gale to severe-gales around its southern flank as it continues drifting south-east towards New Zealand. These gales, while not well aimed for CQ will see some residual surf over the weekend with size to 2-3ft Sat morning, easing back to 1-2ft during the day. Light winds will tend N’ly in the a’noon.

By Sun surf will have dropped back to 1-2ft, with some occasional 2ft+ sets at exposed breaks with winds tending W in the morning and N’ly in the a’noon.

Next week looks very quiet as weak winds occupy the Coral Sea. So get in now and mop up what is left from TC Gabrielle.

Check back Mon for the latest and have a great weekend!