South-east Queensland and Northern NSW Surf Forecast by James Casey (issued Wednesday 14th April)

Best Days: Monday and Tuesday next week

Outlook:

• Another S/SE swell to fill in on Thursday
• Yet another S swell to fill in on Saturday into Sunday
• Plenty of offshore winds to make the most of the swell on offer
• Longer period S swell to keep wave round the 3ft mark for Tuesday/Wednesday next week

Recap

The S swell filled in nicely for N NSW but didn’t seem to filter in to the Mid N Coast nearly as well, especially for the Port Macquarie region. There were reports of 3-5ft waves for N NSW yesterday while southern parts of the Mid North Coast struggled to reach 3ft, northern parts got up to 3-4ft. 

For SE QLD it remained in that 2-3ft range and with SE winds it was small but clean along the protected points breaks. 

Today waves have dropped off it’s more like 3-4ft for N NSW and northern parts of the Mid N Coast, more like 3ft for southern parts. Meanwhile SE QLD has dropped to 2ft.

This week and into the weekend

A more S/SE pulse will fill in overnight for the Mid N Coast and N NSW. This swell will originate out of a burst of winds around a low at the base of the front linked to Monday's swell. 

It will reach the 4-5ft mark at its peak before easing into Friday. 

North of the border, in SE QLD, there won’t be as much size but it will fare slightly better than the previous swell due to a bit more of an easterly component this time around. 

Winds on Thursday will be out of the NW across the region as a S change makes its way up the coast on Friday. 

Waves will ease to 3ft on Friday but it’ll be wind affected. Southern corners will be smaller but cleaner as winds start strong out of the SW before easing and swinging around to the SE for the afternoon. Only the Sunny Coast will see light winds ahead of the change around dawn as the S change fills in for the rest of the coast overnight.  

Once the S change has moved in it looks like it’ll really settle in for the start of the weekend. Winds will remain S/SW for most of Saturday and Sunday, more out of the SE north of the border and into Sunday afternoon for everywhere. 

Wave wise Friday will be one of the smallest mornings of the week around the 2ft mark but it won’t stay small for long. Strong winds south of Tassie will direct a swell up towards our coast building to 3-4ft on Saturday afternoon and peaking on Sunday around 4-5ft.

The new week

Monday will see the weekends swell easing to 4ft in the morning and 3ft by Tuesday. For both days the mornings look to have lighter offshore winds before winds increase with an onshore breeze later in the day. 

Meanwhile strong frontal activity to the south and west of Tassie will deliver a couple of long period S swells keeping wave heights around that 2-3ft mark initially before bumping up to 3ft+. The first will arrive Tuesday early and the second stronger pulse to arrive by Wednesday.

The swell will ease into Thursday with a little E swell on Thursday and signs of yet another S swell over the weekend. 

Tune in on Friday for an update on the forecast.