Central QLD Forecaster Notes by Steve Shearer (updated on Fri 23rd Feb)

This weekend and next week (Feb23 -Mar1)

Central QLD:Run of fun waves coming to an end

Small peelers on low tide

Small but fun waves every day on the right tides.

High pressure in the Bight with a trough moving up the coast and robust low (974hPa) moving under Tasmania sets the scene for the weekend.To the East the tradewind belt is contracting and weakening after almost a month of action. We may see a small bump in size early next week but the rest of the f/cast looks tiny.

Easing swells to start the last week of Summer. Winds shift by degree to the E/NE  from Wed with only small E swells to 1ft expected to close out Summer- although it’s been a very consistent run of waves through Feb. It now looks like it has come to an end. The trade belt has weakened and contracted eastwards so only small, background E swells are expected. There's still a moderate cross-equatorial flow and some enhanced convection across PNG and the Solomons next week so we'll keep eyes on that area in case something spins up but at the moment there is nothing specific to make note of. 

Tradewind belt taking a rest = tiny surf

Not much else on the radar after that- looks like a very quiet start to Autumn with some small/tiny days to end next week and enter the first weekend of March.

ECMWF continues a very zonal flow of fronts below the country and a weak tradewind belt, GFS is slightly more optimistic and suggests a possible low near New Zealand which may generate some E/SE swell in the medium term.

Low confidence due to the model divergence so lets see how it looks on Mon.

Until then, have a great weekend!