Northern NSW and South East Queensland Surf Forecast (Fri 6th Nov)

Northern NSW and South East Queensland Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Friday 6th December)

Best Days: Saturday morning, Sunday morning, Monday morning, early Tuesday

Recap

The surf was average across most spots with a fresh to strong N'ly breeze, whipping up a low quality windswell into the afternoon.

This morning a mix of easing NE windswell was seen across the Sunny and Gold Coast with S'ly winds, creating fun waves, while the North Coast saw a S'ly swell also in the mix but not above 2ft.

This weekend (Dec 7 - 8)

This morning's small S'ly swell is a precursor to a much larger S'ly groundswell event across the North Coast over the weekend related to a strong cold-outbreak moving into the Southern Tasman Sea.

An initial fetch of strong to gale-force S/SW winds up the Southern NSW Coast today will generate a pulse in swell this afternoon and further Saturday, reaching 3-5ft across south facing beaches into the late afternoon.

A much larger and more powerful S'ly groundswell is expected to peak Sunday morning though generated by a fetch of gale to severe-gale S/SW winds wrapping around the core of a low that has formed in the Southern Tasman Sea today (pictured right).

Open beaches should see good 3-4ft waves Sunday morning, while south facing locations should pick up inconsistent but strong 5-6ft sets. The Gold Coast will miss a lot of the S'ly swell, and only come in at an inconsistent 2ft+ at open beaches and 4-5ft on the Tweed.

Winds tomorrow morning will be good and from the W/SW ahead of an E/NE sea breeze while Sunday will see a light W/NW breeze ahead of fresh NE sea breezes.

Next week (Dec 9 onwards)

The low will weaken and move off to the east and out of our swell window through Saturday, with a steady drop in size expected Monday, although early on there'll still be solid sets, with Tuesday offering small leftovers.

Winds will generally play out from the NW to N/NE favouring northern corners and spots picking up the most size.

Longer term, there's nothing major on the cards besides small levels of E'ly windswell but we'll review this again Monday.