Gold & Sunshine Coast Report issued at 5.40am Tuesday 16th April 2024

Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on the Gold Coast, with a slight chance of a shower on the southern end of the coast and partly cloudy on the Sunshine Coast. The top temperature should be 27-28 degrees

Wind Forecast: 5-10kts W/SW early, becoming 10kts NE on the Gold Coast and 10kts E/SE on the Sunshine Coast during the morning

Swell: 0.5-0.75m E/SE. A bit bigger on northern ends of the Sunshine and Gold Coasts and the Tweed and Byron Coasts

Tides: Mooloolaba: Low @ 9.50am … High 3.20pm

Snapper Rocks: Low @ 9.23am & 7.26pm … High 3.09pm

Best waves: Much the same as the past couple of days, but the swell has dropped a bit. Check the points for small ones and while the wind is W/SW early, the beach breaks on the open beaches, although on the Sunshine Coast open beaches, conditions aren’t as clean as on the Gold Coast, due to last night’s onshore wind. The inner bays at Noosa are tiny and it might be worth a walk to the outer bays. Although the wind is expected to become onshore during the morning, it should be light, so like yesterday, there should be fun waves all day, but the morning will have the cleanest conditions

Best Beaches: It should be a good day for the beach. The swell isn’t very big, but there are inshore holes and gutters along the open stretches and on the morning and late afternoon ebb tides, any rips and sweep working around those holes and gutters will be enhanced as the water drains off the beach, so swim in the patrolled areas marked by the red and yellow flags

In onshore winds, there’s always the chance of bluebottles being blown inshore, so check along the tide line for them before you go in the water, look for stinger warning signs in the patrolled areas, or ask the lifeguard if there’s been any. If you are stung, seek help from the beach patrol