Central QLD Forecaster Notes by Steve Shearer (updated on Wed Dec 11th)

This week and next week (Dec11-Dec20)

Central QLD: Tiny days ahead this week

Barely breaking.

Barely breaking

A very weak troughy pattern is unfolding this week with a weak high pressure (1016hPa) cell moving into the Tasman today as a trough stalls about the Far North Coast. Another trough tomorrow brings a shallow S’ly change which again looks to stall out on the North Coast before another weak high cell moves into the Tasman late this week. In short, no major swells expected.

Expect tiny/flat surf this week and over the weekend.

Building E’ly tradeswell is a possibility later next week as winds start to establish in the Coral Sea but models are offering mixed messages at to the strength of the fetch with GFS not really interested in much at all. That makes confidence low for any expected size. We'll revisit on Wed.

A stronger high moving through the Bight later next week may set up a decent ridge along the coast, with tradeswell potential for the sub-tropics and some NE-E/NE swell for temperate NSW as we move into the weekend before Xmas.

A tropical low we mentioned last week now forms further East, is more compact and looks to slide SE later next week. We may see some small, background E swell in the lead-up to Xmas from this source.

Nothing concrete at this stage. 

In the absence of anything meaningful surf-wise, looks like a great week to get the Xmas shopping done.

Check back Wed for the latest. 

Wed Update: 

On the back of a monsoonal surge models are starting to look interested in low pressure development between PNG, the Solomons and Vanuatu which may indicate the first real tropical developments of the season as we head into the Xmas week. Still too early to have any expectations on surf potential from this area but we will keep our eyes on it.

We’ll track all this and report back on Fri.

Seeya then.