In this week’s beach report, Craig Holden says wet weather should clear by Sunday and there will be plenty of small but clean waves about for the mal-riders to enjoy.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Despite the COVID-19 restrictions lightening, if you are at the beach please maintain the social/physical distancing minimum guidelines and abide by the current group gathering guidelines as well.
WEATHER: Well, it looks as though we are set for an interesting and varied few days of weather headed our way, with wet weather forecast to arrive today and hang around into Saturday, before sunshine and blue skies return by Sunday and then some chilly temperatures back again by Monday.
Friday is likely to bring overcast skies this morning followed by showers later in the morning that will then tend to rain periods during the day, before they ease again to showers through Saturday, with just the slight chance of even a thunderstorm Saturday morning.
The winds will continue today to be abnormal for winter-time, with more N/NE to E/NE winds at around 10 knots, with the odd stronger gust up to 15 knots.
Tomorrow will be similar, with 10 to 15 knots of N/NE winds that will tend more from the N/NW through the afternoon.
Then on Sunday, the SW winds will return at 10 to 15 knots in the morning, although they will ease back to 5 to 10 knots during the afternoon.
SWIMMING: Swimming conditions have once again been absolutely spectacular during this past week with mostly calm and mild ocean conditions, with some small, clean waves thrown in for good measure.
Looking ahead to today and tomorrow, we are forecast to receive some wet weather, along with light to moderate northerly winds, which will cause some choppy conditions on beaches that face in a more northerly direction.
Therefore, for today and tomorrow, beaches such as Kellys Beach and Elliott Heads will be the best beaches for swimmers as they are protected from the prevailing winds.
However, by Sunday, with the offshore SW winds returning, all beaches will provide mostly calm and fantastic swimming conditions.
The best time for a swim over the coming days will be from mid-morning through until around midday to early afternoon.
If you are going for a swim, please check with the lifeguard on duty, read any safety signage or messages, and most importantly please swim only at patrolled beaches, only between the red and yellow flags, and only during patrol times – remember, if we can’t see you, we can’t save you!
BEACH PATROLS: WEEKDAYS – Nil
SATURDAY and SUNDAY – 9am to 5pm at Kelly’s Beach and Agnes Water only
SURFING: After plenty of fun-sized waves were found last weekend and even into Monday, the wave heights have dropped significantly over the past few days, but there have still been plenty of very small, but clean waves about for the mal-riders to enjoy this week.
The swell direction is continued to be from the NE for most of this week and this will continue through today and across the weekend – and fingers crossed there should even be an increase in wave heights through today as well.
The onshore NE winds will not help, but fingers crossed there will be plenty of small, fun-sized waves about local beaches over the coming days.
Try the early mornings, or again from mid-morning through to around midday, for the best results. All of the normal locations will be worth a look, however, Kelly’s Beach and Elliott Heads may well be slightly better today and tomorrow. Good luck!
EVENTS: Nil.
- Last week’s Beach Report with Craig Holden: Sunny but windy weekend at local beaches