Northern NSW and South East Queensland Surf Forecast (Wed 22nd Jan)

Northern NSW and South East Queensland Forecast by Craig Brokensha (issued Wednesday 22nd January)

Best Days: Friday morning, Sunday onwards in protected spots

Recap

Monday afternoon's solid pulse of E/NE groundswell backed off slowly through yesterday but N'ly winds created poor conditions across all but protected northern corners. The swell was hanging in at 2-3ft this morning with a NE windswell also in the mix under light winds ahead of a S'ly change moving up the coast.

This week (Jan 23 -24)

A small mix of S/SE windswell and late arriving S'ly groundswell are expected across the coast tomorrow, but Friday morning will offer the best waves with a peak in the groundswell.

This groundswell is being generated by an intense mid-latitude low that's drifted across Tassie and is aiming a fetch of gale to severe-gale S/SW winds through our swell window (pictured right).

A peak in size to an inconsistent 3-4ft+ is expected across south facing beaches Friday morning on the North Coast (arriving earlier and peaking overnight on the Mid North Coast) and winds should be favourable early and variable ahead of fresh NE sea breezes.

This weekend onwards (Jan 25 onwards)

Friday's S'ly groundswell will fade rapidly overnight due to the short-lived nature of the mid-latitude low generating the swell with small waves due into Saturday.

A strong S'ly change pushing up the coast during the day though should bring a late increase in windswell that's expected to peak in the medium to large range Sunday across south facing beaches on the North Coast (smaller on the Goldy beaches and points).

Winds will be terrible though and strong from the S/SE.

Heading into next week the outlook is a little unsure due to diverging model guidance, so check back here on Friday for the latest update.