Northern NSW and South East Queensland Surf Forecast (Wed 15th Jan)

Northern NSW and South East Queensland Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday 15th January)

Best Days: Every morning over the coming period

Recap

A low point in swell activity was seen across both coasts yesterday morning with average onshore winds in SE Qld and better winds further down the North Coast.

Today the beginnings of a new E'ly trade-swell event is being seen across the Goldy and North Coast, with 2ft waves across most spots this morning.

This week and weekend (Jan 16-19)

A relatively weak but broad easterly ridge has established in the Coral Sea and is aiming a fetch of strong E/SE winds through our swell window.

This ridge is strengthening slowly through today and should provide moderate amounts of E'ly trade-swell across the Gold Coast over the coming days and weekend, peaking through tomorrow afternoon and Friday morning to 3ft+. The North Coast will see a touch less size, that will be smaller the further south you head.

Winds will continue from the E/SE for the most part, with lighter and more variable breezes expected each morning and further south on the North Coast.

Next week onwards (Jan 20 onwards)

As talked about in the last update, a tropical depression that's currently in the Coral Sea between the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu is forecast to deepen over the coming days and form into a tropical cyclone on Friday.

The naming of this cyclone will be either Dylan or June depending on where it forms relative to the 160 degree longitudinal line, with it expected to drift south into the trade-flow over the weekend.

This will generate stronger levels of E'ly trade-swell that should build Sunday ahead of a larger pulse of E'ly groundswell on Monday to 4-5ft+ across the Gold Coast and 4-5ft on the North Coast (smaller further south).

Winds look to be from the S'th as well on Monday favouring the protected bays and points across both regions.

Beyond the E'ly groundswell due on Monday, wave heights are expected to ease steadily into the middle of the week. There's some indication of some further tropical activity after this, but we'll review this Friday.