Surf & weather

The five tiles at the top of the page are pulled directly from BOM and Open-Meteo. They are not forecasts of what is coming — they are the most recent observation or nowcast. The heading on each tile is the kind; the value is the headline number; the secondary line is the supporting detail (swell period, gust, tide direction); the footer is the source and the timestamp.

If a tile shows Unavailable, the upstream API didn’t respond in time. We don’t fall back to a guess — open the BOM forecast (linked in the sidebar) to see the current conditions directly.

Noosa’s points — First Bay, National Park, and Granite Bay — like a south-east groundswell with a period over 9 seconds and a wind under 15 km/h from the same direction. When the wind goes north or north-west, the surface glass goes off and the points are at their best.

Beginners and longboarders typically work the open beach at Main Beach or the south end of Sunshine Beach, where the swell has sorted itself out. The lifesavers patrol Main Beach every day during school holidays and on weekends year-round (see Beachsafe for the current flag).

• First Bay: works on south-east swell, ~1.4 m at the headland, period 9–12 s.
• National Park (Lifeguard Beach): south-east swell; respects the QPWS swimming enclosure boundary.
• Granite Bay: walk-in access only via the coastal track; check QPWS alerts before you walk.
• Main Beach: patrolled, the right place on a building south-easter.

A typical winter morning runs 10–20 km/h south-east, which holds the surface together and lines the swell up against the points. The wind tends to clock around to the north-east by mid-afternoon; that’s when the south coast beaches come into their own. A westerly is rare and usually means a frontal system; expect gusts and a bumpy surface.

Noosa River bar crossing conditions vary hour to hour with swell, wind, and tide. Always check the MSQ Noosa bar report and listen to the Noosa Coast Guard broadcast (VHF channel 16 or 67) before attempting a crossing. Marine Safety Queensland’s general guidance is to cross on an incoming tide when conditions allow. Do not rely on this website for navigation — we are a planning tool, not a navigational authority.

The "Sea level" tile on this page is an Open-Meteo sea-level figure, not an authoritative tide reading. For any planned crossing, defer to the BOM Tewantin tide harmonic (the authoritative local tide source) and the MSQ bulletin above. We do not publish a recommended crossing window.

The UV index on the Sunshine Coast reaches Extreme (>11) on clear summer days and rarely falls below Moderate (3–5) even in winter. Cancer Council SunSmart recommends protection from any UV ≥ 3, which in practice means a shirt, hat, sunscreen, and shade between 10 am and 3 pm year-round.