South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Wednesday 2nd December)

Best Days: Sat/Sun: Solid but inconsistent and easing E'ly and SE swells across most coasts, with moderate SW tending SE winds. Mon/Tues: light morning winds and smaller, easing swells. 

Recap: A building long range E’ly groundswell plus a secondary short range SE swell has provided plenty of waves across all coasts over the last two days. As expected, Thursday morning wasn’t much bigger than late Wednesday but we’ve seen a slow and steady upwards trend into today where exposed beaches are seeing set waves in and around the 4-5ft mark. Winds have been fresh and gusty from the S/SW tending S/SE, so the regional outer points have been the best option. 

Tweed Coast bomb this morning

This weekend (Saturday 5th December - Sunday 6th December)  

Southeast QLD: It’s a simple trend over the weekend - slowly easing E’ly groundswell, and more steadily easing short range SE swell.

We’re close to the peak of both swell events (which is a surprisingly long period of time - most of today, and maybe early tomorrow) however most noticeable throughout the weekend will be a decrease in the consistency of set waves. Which, in the case of the long range E’ly swell, is already quite an inconsistent event. 

The biggest sets will occur early Saturday morning with infrequent bombs somewhere between 3ft and maybe 5ft at exposed spots, but expect very long breaks for these waves - smaller SE energy in the 2-3ft range will generally pad out the bulk of the lineup at open locations. And as you head down the points and also inside sheltered corners, surf size will tail off accordingly - so keep this in mind when looking for somewhere to surf.

As for local winds, they’re looking very good for the points once again. Early SW winds tending S’ly then S/SE throughout the middle of the days, maybe even SE periods into the afternoons. If you’re aiming for an open beach break (which will be quite strong early Saturday), you’ll have to aim for the mornings. Otherwise, the outer points are your best bet.

Northern NSW: We can expect the same swell trend as SE Qld, except with a smaller degree of size from the short range SE swell as the fetch is aimed much better towards northern regions.

However the E’ly groundswell should still maintain plenty of strong sets anywhere between 3ft and maybe even 5ft early Saturday, before trending down throughout the day and into Sunday. 

Local winds look pretty good for most of the weekend, though the Far North (Ballina to the border) may become a little breezey from the S thru’ SE at times, especially Saturday. Elsewhere, we should see light variable winds and afternoon sea breezes. So make the most of the morning sessions. 

Next week (Monday 7th December - Friday 11th December)

No major swells for next week. Monday looks pretty good for a morning surf with light variable winds ahead of the afternoon sea breeze (likely out of the east). Most exposed beaches will probably be down to a very inconsistent 3ft by this time, with smaller waves across the semi-exposed/outer points, but there should be rideable options across most beach breaks.

On Tuesday it looks like we’ll return to a freshening NE flow about the Northern NSW coast - strongest across the Mid North Coast - so you’ll have to aim for an early surf to pick up the small inconsistent leftovers of east swell still pushing through. 

Freshening northerly winds are then expected Wednesday and Thursday, and the only new swell source is a minor southerly pulse due sometime Wednesday morning (Mid North Coast), reaching the Far North Coast mid-late afternoon. Sets of about 2-3ft are possible from this source at south swell magnets in Northern NSW, but it probably won’t produce much elsewhere, or in SE Qld. 

The long term outlook has a couple of regions I’ll be monitoring more closely on Monday: a small ridge building across the north-eastern Tasman Sea from later Tuesday thru’ Wednesday onwards (which may generate a small trade swell for SE Qld next weekend); a weak coastal trough off the NSW coast Thursday, which currently looks rather benign but could evolve into something more interesting with later model runs, and also a series of followup southerly groundswells from secondary fronts through the Southern Ocean/Lower Tasman Sea early next week (with their swells arriving later next week, once again exclusively to south facing beaches in Northern NSW).

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday.