South-east Queensland and Northern NSW Surf Forecast by Ben Matson (issued Friday 12th June)

Best Days: Sat: fun waves across all coasts with generally light winds and easing E'ly swells. Sun: afternoon options in Northern NSW as winds swing NW then W'ly. Mon/Tues/Wed: small fun E'ly swells with good winds for the points. Thurs/Fri/Sat: strong building SE swells, though with gusty SE winds. 

Recap: A mix of E’ly mid range and long range swells have generated excellent waves across the regional points over the last few days, with size in the 3-5ft range. There’s also been a small southerly swell in the mix south of the border. Winds have been out of the SW thru’ S, so open beaches have been a little wobbly at times but there’s been some quality options around. 

Currumbin with the goods this afternoon

This weekend (June 13 - 14)

Saturday is the pick of the weekend, with freshening northerly winds likely to create a few issues on Sunday.

We’re now on the backside of this most recent E’ly swell, and the downwards trend will continue into Saturday from 3ft+ to 2-3ft at most open beaches, smaller along the points. Size should persist at an inconsistent 2-3ft at open beaches on Sunday.

A new S’ly swell is also expected to glance the Northern NSW coast on Saturday - probably the afternoon - and then fade slowly through Sunday. This was generated by the final trailing polar low in a sequence (which also generated our recent south swell yesterday and today) and provided good surf through Victoria today. No major size is expected, but south swell magnets south of Byron could pick up a few 2-3ft sets.

Saturday will be clean pretty much everywhere with light variable winds and sea breezes.

Overnight Saturday, winds will freshen from the north in response to an approaching frontal system, and it could become gusty at exposed coasts through Sunday morning. The front will cross Southern NSW throughout the morning and this should allow for a NW wind change across Northern NSW into the afternoon, tending W’ly later (arriving earlier in the south than the north). 

However, north from Byron the N’ly wind could remain an issue all day. In fact, this local wind should be sufficient to generate 2ft+ of peaky N’ly swell, though there may not be any locations handling the wind that are also picking up this energy.

Next week (June 15 onwards)

A S’ly change will push up all coasts early Monday in the lee of Sunday’s change. It won’t be terribly strong but it’ll be enough to create quality issues at exposed spots, though the points will be clean. 

A small undercurrent of E’ly swell will hold into the morning but a restrengthening of the Northern Tasman Sea ridge over the weekend - this time a little further east, south of Fiji - will generate a rebuilding trend that will start to fill in on Monday afternoon and then hold steady through Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Monday morning will therefore be undersized, but we should be back to 2-3ft+ surf through the first half of the week. There’ll be slow runners along the outer points. Wave heights may be a little undersized from this source south from Yamba.

A new ridge will concurrently build across the Qld coast from Monday night onwards, initially too localised to generate swell, but as it broadens through the middle of the week and merges with a passing front to the south (extending the fetch down to New Zealand, and possibly forming a surface low off the North Island) we’ll see strong building SE swells across the region.

This new eneregy will probably start to become most noticeable around Thursday of next week but the most size is expected from Friday through the weekend. Though, the strength of the ridge along the coast will probably result in sheltered-points only offering the rideable options. 

There’s a few other swell sources for later next week, such as a new S’ly swell from the final low in a Southern Ocean progression (below Tasmania on Tuesday) and some small long range E’ly swell from distant systems in the South Pacific, but they’re likely to be overshadowed by local swell sources anyway. So I won’t spend much time analysing them (for now).

Have a great weekend! See you Monday.