Central QLD Forecaster Notes by Steve Shearer (updated on Mon Dec 23rd)

This week and next week (Dec23-Jan3)

Central QLD: Easing surf from tomorrow, tiny for a while

Small waves today and tomorrow, easing back to tiny into the new year.

Small lines this morning

A cold front currently pushing into the Tasman spawns a low pressure system, expected to rapidly deepen later today and o/night before becoming slow moving in the south-central Tasman. A weak monsoonal low in the Coral Sea is drifting towards New Caledonia and weakening.

That weak low is providing some 1-2ft surf today, expected to persist into tomorrow before easing.

Surf then becomes tiny and this tiny surf extends right through Xmas-Boxing Day and into the last days of 2024.

Looks like a quiet end to 2024 with weak pressure gradients in the Tasman and Coral seas. We’ll pencil in light winds and tiny surf to 1-2ft or less to pad out the old year.

The Tasman sea continues to be soupy with above average SST’s and continuing troughy low pressure into the new Year. There is some model guidance from EC suggesting a broad surface low forming in the Tasman first week of the New Year which would not be a swell source for CQ. No interest in this scenario from GFS so we’ll flag it as a low confidence call and see how things look when we come back Xmas Day.

Seeya then.