Well, it has been a cracking week of weather across the local region this past week with the winds easing back in strength from Monday onwards, and there has also been plenty of sunshine and blue skies as well.
Now, looking ahead to today and across the weekend, the winds will continue from the north and will be mostly light although they will tend more moderate through the afternoons.
The chance of showers and thunderstorms will also increase across both Saturday and Sunday, so keep an eye on the sky before your planning your trip to the beach.
Today’s winds should remain light for most of the day with 50 to 10 knots of NE winds forecast for this morning that will then increase slightly to 10+ knots through this afternoon.
The weekend wind forecast is then looking almost identical for both Saturday and Sunday with 8 to 10 knots of N/NE winds through the mornings that will then increase to 10 to 15 knots through the afternoons.
Swimming
After a windy weekend with plenty of ordinary swimming conditions, the local beaches have provided nothing but great swimming conditions for the holidaymakers through the past few days, and these good swimming conditions should also remain through today, and even through the mornings across the weekend as well.
While the winds should remain light to moderate over the weekend, because they are from the N/NE those beaches that are exposed to these winds will be slightly choppier compared to those they are protected.
But all-in-all, conditions will generally be OK, however you will find the better swimming conditions at Elliott Heads and Kelly’s Beach this weekend.
The best time for a swim will either be from early to mid-morning, or again from mid to late afternoon.
Keep an eye out for blue bottles and hair jellies, and be mindful of the large, early morning high tides that will cause lots of water movement over the coming days – particularly around the creek and river mouths as the tide runs out.
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: weekdays – 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach and Agnes Water, plus a rove lifeguard in the Bundaberg Region
Weekends and public holidays – 9 am to 5 pm at Elliott Heads, Kelly’s Beach, Nielson Park, Oaks Beach, Moore Park Beach and Agnes Water, plus a rove lifeguard in the Bundaberg Region.
Note: These are minimum patrol times – some beaches may have longer hours.
Surfing
This past week provided a few opportunities to grab some clean, small but fun-sized waves through Sunday to Tuesday/Wednesday, but since then, the wave heights have been pretty small.
Unfortunately, the northerly winds have now returned too, and although they are only light to moderate, the prospect of finding any quality waves over the coming days will be very low.
Perhaps try the very early mornings, or again an hour or two after the top of the tide, for best results, with Kelly’s Beach and Elliott Heads even being worth a sneaky look across the weekend too when the northerly winds increase a little more.
For the SUP and Ocean Ski paddlers chasing a downwind paddle, there won’t be a huge amount of wind about, but the afternoons on both Saturday and Sunday may provide enough for a north to south run.
For those chasing a more relaxed and gentler paddle, hit the beaches through the early mornings across all days – particularly Kelly’s Beach and Elliott Heads.
Events:
The WBC Branch Surf Rescue Championships are being held at Bundaberg SLSC on Sunday – good luck to all local competitors!
