Central QLD Forecaster Notes by Steve Shearer (updated on Wed 13th Mar)

This week and next week (Mar13-Mar21)

Central QLD: Surf easing then rebuilding over the weekend and next week

Stack of surf this week, continuing tomorrow.

Still pumping

We’ve still got a broad trade wind flow in the Coral Sea, extending out into the South Pacific and anchored head and tail by low pressure along the monsoon trough. That’s producing plenty of surf in the sub-tropics  although we’ll now see a slow easing trend into the end of the week.

Expect surf to hold at current size tomorrow morning before a slow easing into the a’noon, easing further into Fri but remaining surfable.

Strong  SE winds Fri as a new high pressure ridge builds in and gets reinforced by a trough on the leading edge of the change and a lingering trough off the Fraser Coast. That SE surge will see some short range swell build in later Fri and hold in over the weekend.

Winds still look mod/fresh from the SE as the next strong high moves into the Tasman and maintains a firm ridge up the sub-tropical coast.

High pressure builds a tradeewind fetch and we’ll see low pressure centres drift down and tighten pressure gradients on the northern flank of the fetch, more notably later next week. That will see more E swell build in early next week and hold at surfable levels (at least 2-3ft) all week.

Looks like a very busy outlook so check back Fri and we’ll see how it’s shaping up.

Seeya then.