In this week's beach report Craig Holden says today will bring wild, windy and wet weather to local beaches.
Well, it has been a very mixed week of both weather and beach conditions just gone, with overcast skies and strong winds setting since Wednesday, and according to the forecasts, today is going to be another wild, windy, and wet day too!
But, in good news for beach goers, the forecast for the weekend is looking much better, with sunny skies and lighter winds set to return, along with cool minimum temperatures.
But first, we need to navigate our way through today’s forecast, which is indicating more overcast skies and rain, along with S/SE winds at around 20 knots this morning that will then increase to 25 knots through the day before they then swing from the S/SW and ease again in the early evening.
Tomorrow will then bring sunshine and offshore winds early, with around 15 knots of S/SW winds predicted that will then ease gradually during the day (back to around 10 knots) and swing more from a Southerly direction.
Sunday will then bring S/SE winds early at around 10 knots that will then ease back to 5 to 10 knots from the E/SE during the day.
Swimming: The swimming conditions started off being very nice early this week, but they soon turned pretty ordinary from about Wednesday onwards as those stronger onshore winds developed.
In particular, yesterday was quite messy and rough, with more of the same predicted for today as we can expect more strong onshore winds, along with plenty of messy wave action as well.
But once we get through today, and the weekend arrives, we can expect the swimming conditions to improve markedly as the winds ease and turn slightly offshore, giving us reasonably calm swimming conditions for almost the entire weekend.
There will still be some wave action tomorrow morning, albeit a lot cleaner, but it will drop in size quickly, so just be mindful of rips being present on those more open and exposed beaches through tomorrow morning especially.
The best times for a swim will either be through the very early mornings, or again around mid to late afternoon when the tide is higher.
Once again, all beaches will be quite OK for swimmers, but certainly those locations that provide more protection from S/SE winds will be slightly better.
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: Today and weekdays – NIL
Saturday and Sunday – 9 am to 5 pm at Kelly’s Beach and Agnes Water only
Surfing: It has been a very mixed week of surf conditions this week, with small, but clean and fun waves about on Monday and Tuesday morning, which were then replaced by bigger but messier waves developing from about Wednesday afternoon onwards.
Today will provide more of the same too, with messy but reasonable-sized waves expected to continue, so if you are up for a surf today, consider locations such as Agnes Water, Nielson Park, Mon Repos and Moore Park Beach as being better options.
However, the wave heights will drop quickly over the weekend, but they will also get a lot cleaner too, so tomorrow morning may well be your last opportunity to find smaller, but still fun-sized and glassy waves to enjoy before they disappear. Good Luck!
For the SUP and ocean ski paddlers, there should be plenty of opportunities over the weekend for finding calm and relaxed paddling conditions on the ocean, especially once the winds start to ease through tomorrow morning.
There should also be plenty of clean, fun waves about tomorrow morning as well if you are chasing a few of them.
In terms of a downwind paddle though, your options do look limited with the winds forecast to drop quickly over the weekend, but maybe a very early south to north run tomorrow morning could be on the cards.
Events: Good Luck to local surf lifesavers from the Elliott Heads SLSC who will be competing this weekend at the 2022 QLD State Pool Rescue Championships on the Gold Coast.
- Last week's beach report: Minimum temperatures on the rise
