Well, it has been another warm and muggy week, with more scattered showers as well but at least the winds have remained light for the majority of the week – until yesterday afternoon anyway.
Looking ahead to the coming days and unfortunately, we can expect very windy conditions through today and more of the same across the weekend – although the winds will ease slightly over the weekend compared to today.
The chance of showers and even the odd thunderstorm will remain over the coming days, along with more of these warm and humid temperatures.
This morning’s winds will be from the S/SE at around 15 to 20 knots before they increase during the day to be 20 to 25+ knots from the E/SE.
Tomorrow will then bring 15 to 20 knots of S/SE to E/SE winds before Sunday sees a light reduction in wind strength with the forecast suggesting 15+ knots of S/SE to E/SE winds.
Swimming
The swimming conditions have again been very good during almost this entire past week, with the light winds keeping the ocean mild and gentle up until yesterday afternoon when the choppy conditions kicked in.
But unfortunately, we can expect the swimming conditions to get much worse through today and across the weekend, with moderate to strong SE winds set to bring choppy and messy conditions – especially on the open and exposed beaches – along with a strong side sweep pushing along these beaches from south to north (or right to left).
The best time for a swim will be from early morning through until around mid to late morning, with the best beaches for swimmers set to be Hervey Bay and Agnes Water (adjacent to the headland), whilst locally beaches such as Nielson Park and Moore Park will be slightly better as well.
The mid-morning high tides are very large over the coming days so please be cautious during the run-out stage of the tide due to the large amount of water movement and avoid swimming in creek and river mouths during the run-out stage of the tide.
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!
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.
Saturdays and Sundays: 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park, Oaks Beach, Moore Park and Agnes Water, plus a rove lifeguard across the Bundaberg Region.
Please note these are minimum patrol times, some locations may have longer hours of patrol time.
Surfing
Once again, it has been another lean week in terms of waves on our local beaches, with just a small window of opportunity last Sunday morning, but as we look ahead to today and then into the weekend, there should be an increase in wave heights but the waves will be very wind-effected, choppy and messy – particularly on the open beaches.
The best option for finding a wave will certainly be Agnes Water, but locally, Nielson Park Beach, Mon Repos and Moore Park Beach will all be worth a look as well.
Try from early to mid-morning for the better conditions.
For the SUP and ocean ski paddlers, there should be plenty of south to north downwind fun to be had throughout today, and then again across the entire weekend as well.
But for those seeking a more relaxed and gentle paddle, you will need to head into the protected creeks, rivers and inland waterways.
Events
It’s a big weekend of surf lifesaving action at Agnes Water, with the Wide Bay Capricorn (WBC) Branch Board Riding Championships kicking things off tomorrow morning, followed then by Round 1 of the WBC Branch Premiership Series on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday will then have Round 2 of the WBC Branch Premiership Series that will also feature Under 11 to Under 13 events as well.
