Well it has been another mixed week of weather conditions, with some overcast skies and rain, some blue skies and sunshine, and variable winds, and the coming weekend looks like it will be similar in terms of the variable winds too!
Overcast skies will be the norm, with the chance of a shower or two, and even a thunderstorm, along with mild temperatures but it will be quite muggy.
Today’s winds will be from the E/SE to E at around 15 knots this morning before they increase to 15 to 20 knots through this afternoon.
Tomorrow morning will bring E/SE winds at 10 to 15 knots, but they will then swing from the E/NE by the afternoon.
Sunday’s forecast is for N/NE winds at 5 to 10 knots in the morning and increasing to 10 to 15 knots through the afternoon.
Swimming
Swimming conditions have also been quite mixed as you would expect with the varying weather and wind conditions, with choppy and sloppy seas being the norm during this past week.
Looking ahead to today and then into the weekend, we can once again expect more choppy and sloppy conditions in the ocean due to the shifting winds, but the early mornings should be slightly better for swimmers with the higher tide and lighter winds.
If not, the late afternoons could also be okay but you will need to select the right beach to avoid the stronger winds.
Swimmers will need to be careful during the run-out stage of the tide over the coming days (through the mornings) due to the large amount of water movement and please avoid the creek and river mouths during this time.
For today and tomorrow morning, the best beaches will be Nielson Park Beach and Moore Park Beach.
However, by Saturday afternoon and all day on Sunday, the best beaches for swimmers will be Elliott Heads and Kelly’s Beach.
Please check with the surf lifesavers or 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!
Today – 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 Beach, Oaks Beach and Agnes Water, 1 pm to 5 pm Elliott Heads and Moore Park Beach.
Sunday – 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly's Beach, Nielson Park Beach, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach and Agnes Water.
Surfing
Choppy and sloppy conditions have prevailed for most of this past week making it difficult to find any quality waves to enjoy, but there were a few opportunities earlier in the week to have some fun.
Looking ahead to the coming days, we are once again facing shifting and variable wind directions and speeds, so we can expect more messy conditions but there should still be a few fun-sized waves about if you can tolerate slop.
Check out Agnes Water, Nielson Park Beach, Moore Park Beach and Mon Repos today and tomorrow but by Sunday beaches such as Kelly’s Beach and Elliott Heads could be worth a sneaky look.
For the SUP and Ocean Ski paddlers, there should be enough wind today for a south to north downwind run but the ocean will be very wobbly and sloppy.
The shifting winds will be no help to you across the weekend either.
For those looking for a more relaxed float in the ocean, maybe wait until early Sunday morning at Kelly’s Beach or Elliott Heads.
Events
Good luck to a small group of local surf lifesavers that will represent Queensland Country this weekend at the Queensland Interbranch Championships on the Gold Coast.
