Well, it has been another warm and muggy week across the local region, with sunny skies for most of the week before the clouds started to gather yesterday.
Now as we look ahead to the coming days, and even through to Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the forecast is suggesting more warm and muggy conditions, together with showers, thunderstorms and even some rain periods, with the northerly winds set to continue as well.
This morning’s winds will be from the N/NE at 5 to 10 knots before they increase to 10 to 15 knots through the early afternoon, with tomorrow expected to be almost identical apart from the winds being N/NW to N/NE.
Sunday will then see a slight increase in wind strengths, with 10 to 15 knots of N/NW winds that will then increase to 15+ knots through the afternoon.
At this early stage, it then looks like N/NW winds at 15 to 20 knots for both Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Swimming
The swimming conditions have remained quite good for the most part this week, although slightly choppy conditions have been found on those beaches that face in a more northerly direction – and there has been quite a bit of algae (trichodesmium) across almost all beaches as well.
With the northerly winds forecast for the next four to five days, the best beaches for swimmers across this Christmas long weekend will certainly be Kelly’s Beach and Elliott Heads, but other beaches should be OK in the early mornings today and tomorrow.
Early to mid-mornings will be the best time for a swim with the early morning high tide.
Keep an eye out for blue bottles and avoid the creek and river mouths during the run-out stage of the tide during the mornings.
Please check with the surf lifesavers or 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 Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park Beach, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach and Agnes Water, plus a rove lifeguard across the Bundaberg Region
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays (including Christmas Day): 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park Beach, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach and Agnes Water, plus a rove lifeguard across the Bundaberg Region
Note: These are minimum patrol times – some locations may have longer hours of patrol time.
Surfing
Not much has been happening across our local beaches this past week in terms of waves as you would expect with the northerly winds, and unfortunately, with the northerly winds set to remain for the next four to five days, there is not much chance of seeing any decent waves across our local beaches over the coming days.
But as per usual, keep an eye on conditions with perhaps a small, clean wave to be found through the mornings at Kelly’s Beach or Elliott Heads.
For the SUP and ocean ski paddlers, there should be plenty of north to south downwind fun through the afternoons over the next four to five days but for a more relaxed and gentle paddle, I would suggest hitting Kelly’s Beach or Elliott Heads through the very early mornings.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Please stay safe across the Christmas long weekend!
