Well, it has been another reasonably good week of weather across our local region, with more sunny skies and generally light to moderate winds, as well as milder to warm temperatures.
Looking ahead to today, and then across the weekend, the forecast is not quite so good – well at least for today anyway, with the forecast suggesting it could be a gloomy, windy and wet day, with showers and even rain periods forecast.
Moving further into the weekend though, the weather should improve through Saturday and into Sunday as the sun re-appears, but we are expecting more moderate onshore winds.
This morning’s winds will be light at around 5 to 10 knots from the W/NW to SW, but they will increase during the day to 15 to 20 knots, and swing more from the S/SE.
Tomorrow and Sunday will then both see a continuation of S/SE to E/SE winds at around 15 to 20 knots, although they should be slightly lighter through the early mornings.
Swimming
This past week has brought reasonable swimming conditions across the region, with the start of the week providing glorious conditions across all beaches, before the northerly winds started to kick-in again from about Wednesday.
Looking ahead to the coming days though, and it does appear we are set to experience more mixed swimming conditions, with the open and exposed beaches set to become quite choppy and even a little messy thanks to the moderate onshore winds, whilst there will also be a side sweep pushing along the beaches from south to north as well.
The best swimming conditions over the coming days will actually be found early this morning while the winds are still light and offshore, but after that you will need to head to beaches that are sheltered from the S/SE winds – the better options will be Hervey Bay, Agnes Water, Nielson Park, and Moore Park Beach.
For the best conditions, either hit the beaches from early to mid-morning, or again from mid to late afternoon.
Please check with the 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!
Beach patrols
Today, Saturday and Sunday – 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach & Agnes Water, plus a rove lifeguard in the Bundaberg Region
Weekdays (from next week) – 9 am to 5 pm at Kelly’s Beach & Agnes Water only.
Surfing
This past week has not provided a huge amount of swell for board-riders, but there have been small windows of opportunity to find a few clean, fun waves if you could line up the right conditions, including yesterday morning early.
As we look ahead to the weekend, we know the onshore winds are going to increase to become moderate from the S/SE, which will provide mostly choppy conditions across most beaches, but there should also be a small rise in wave heights albeit they will be quite messy.
Check out spots such as Agnes Water, Mon Repos, Moore Park and Nielson Park in the hope of finding something worthwhile without getting too excited. Good luck.
For the SUP and ocean ski paddlers chasing a downwind paddle, there should be plenty of wind about to enjoy a south to north run from this afternoon onwards, but for those chasing a gentler and milder ocean paddle, you will need to get down there early this morning!
Events: Nil.
- Last week’s beach report: mixed swimming conditions ahead
