South-east Queensland and Northern NSW Surf Forecast by James Casey (issued Friday 23rd April)

Best Days: Saturday, Sunday morning

Outlook:

• Longer period S swell to fill in on Saturday easing into Sunday
• Another S swell to move up the coast filing in Late Monday and ebbing and pulsing into Tuesday and Wednesday. Although strong S/SE winds will limit options. Best conditions early in the day
• Smaller for Thursday/Friday
• Potential for E/SE trade swell further ahead

Recap

It’s been small for the last two days with today pretty close to flat out there especially for SE QLD. 

Yesterday was about 2ft+ south of the border while today is closer to 1-1.5ft. 

Winds were offshore tending NW yesterday while today this mornings offshore winds have freshened out of the SW fairly early for N NSW and the MNC meaning those S swell magnets that were picking up any of the swell are a little bumpy. Basically it is a lay day out there with better waves on the way.

Into the weekend

A longer period S swell generated by a strong front pushing up and around Tassie will begin to fill in early on Saturday morning for the MNC and N NSW while SE QLD could see some S energy by the middle of the day. South of the border this swell will be up around the 4ft mark for S facing beaches. For SE QLD it won’t be more than 2ft as the acute angle of the swell will struggle to fill in, with just the exposed S swell magnets to see any of this swell. Winds will be light and variable for most of the day, mainly W/SW for Saturday early, swinging around to the SE later in the afternoon. 

The swell will begin to ease on Sunday, down to 2-3ft by the afternoon for the S swell magnets. Winds will be light and variable mainly out of the WSW for most of the morning before with an afternoon seabreeze puffs up more SE south of the border and more out of the E for SE QLD. Surf wise It will remain small for SE QLD, around 1-2ft. 

Next week

A new S groundswell will fill in on Monday afternoon for south of the border ebbing and pulsing for the first half of the week. This swell is thanks to yet another strong front pushing up to the east of Tassie.  

A ridge of high pressure will direct SE winds across the region meaning southern corners will be the best option for quality waves, although mornings look like there’ll still be SW winds. South corners will be thecleaner option although try to get out earlier in the SW winds for cleaner conditions at more exposed breaks. 

Monday looks like it’ll reach 3ft+ for S facing beaches by the afternoon before it eases a little into Tuesday morning, pulsing again late Tuesday into Wednesday morning around 3ft+ for S swell magnets. Again due to the direction of the S swell SE QLD will mostly miss out with only small waves around 1-2ft for S swell magnets throughout this period. 

With the persistent S/SE winds there will be a bit of windswell added to the mix as well so don’t expect anything too special from this swell event. This windswell will filter in better for the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast although it’ll only be a weak 2ft at the most. 

It looks like we will then enter another quiet period for the end of next week with Thursday and Friday remaining fairly small around that 2ft mark.

Over the weekend there is the opportunity for some E/SE trade swell thanks to a blocking high setting up over the Southern Tasman and it’s ridge being squeezed by some tropical activity in the Coral Sea. This could finally allow some better waves for SE QLD and a more even spread of surf across the region. There is some nice potential but we’ll look into it more on Monday.