It has been another mixed week of weather with gusty and hot northerly winds on Monday and Tuesday that were followed up with thunderstorms on Tuesday night, before cooler, moderate southerly winds arrived on Wednesday.
Looking ahead to the coming days, and it does appear that we are set for a more settled weather pattern, with generally light to moderate winds, mostly sunny skies, mild to warm temperatures, and just a chance of a shower about the coast later in the weekend.
Today’s winds are forecast to be from the S/SE early this morning at around 10 to 15 knots before swinging more from the E/SE during the day and into the afternoon.
Tomorrow will then be quite similar, but the S/SE winds should be light at around 10 knots through the early morning and then increase to 10 to 15 knots from the E/SE during the afternoon.
Sunday then will bring E/SE winds at around 10 knots through the morning before they increase to 10 to 15 knots during the day, and possibly to 15+ knots by late Sunday afternoon.
Swimming: The swimming conditions have been much like the weather this past week – quite mixed!
It has been quite choppy, and a little messy on those more open and exposed beaches, but this should settle down when the winds ease slightly over the coming days.
The best time for a swim over the next few days will certainly be through the early mornings while the tide is high, and the winds are at their lightest.
The late afternoons will also be okay but expect the ocean to be choppier by this time of the day.
Whilst all beaches should be quite good for swimmers through the mornings, the better locations will be those that give you some protection from the S/SE winds – Hervey Bay, Agnes Water, Moore Park Beach and Nielson Park Beach all fit these criteria.
If you are swimming over the coming days, please swim with caution due to the large high tide heights, and associated amount of water movement between high and low tides – the tidal currents will be strongest in the river and creek mouths, so please avoid these areas during the run-out stage of the tide.
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 – 9 am to 5 pm at Kelly’s Beach and Agnes Water only
Saturday – 9 am to 5 pm at Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park, Oaks Beach and Agnes Water; 1 pm to 5 pm at Elliott Heads and Moore Park Beach
Sunday – 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach and Agnes Water
Surfing: Well, last weekend certainly delivered plenty of solid, fun, clean waves for the board-riders to enjoy, with almost every beach in the region providing options for the local surfing community.
But as per usual, the swell size dropped very quickly after the weekend, especially once the gusty northerly winds messed up the ocean early in the week.
Looking ahead to the coming days, and even though we have seen a more favourable S/SE wind change arrive, there is not much hope of seeing any quality waves to go with it!
The waves have been quite small over the past day or two, with just a few fun, clean waves about through the early mornings, and this will likely be the norm over the coming days as well.
Hit the local beach breaks through the early mornings, or again from mid to late afternoon to find something worthwhile. Good luck!
For the SUP and ocean ski paddlers, there should be enough wind through the afternoons for a south to north downwind run (although Sunday afternoon may be the best time), but the very early mornings should also be okay for a more relaxed ocean paddle, and maybe a few small, clean waves too.
Events: Good luck to our local junior surf lifesavers that will be competing at the 2023 Queensland Youth Surf Lifesaving Championships on the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba) from today until Sunday.
- Last week's beach report: Warm weekend with sunny skies ahead
