While clear skies and bright sunshine graced the Sunshine Coast for the Anzac Day long weekend, it may be time to bring the washing in.
“An onshore flow is starting to strengthen this week and a few showers will return to the Sunshine Coast,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Kimba Wong said.
The rain was sitting offshore on Monday, but is expected to start arriving Tuesday and increase Wednesday, with thunderstorms possible.
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“As we head into the weekend, it looks like it will be overcast with more wet weather around,” Ms Wong said.
Lawns and garden beds should get a good soaking before the traditional dry season.
“It will depend on the strength of the onshore flow, but we’ll have scattered low to midrange rainfall of 15-20mm on the Sunshine Coast as we come into the weekend,” Ms Wong said.
“The showers will probably stick around through the long weekend and then we might see a return of cooler winter conditions (next week).”
Ms Wong said the air moisture should ensure temperatures remained mild this week.
“We’re waiting for a dry burst of air to come to the Coast, which will give us those cool nights, but it doesn’t look like that will happen in the next seven days.”
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But boardriders should look forward to next weekend.
Some of the calmest surf we’ve seen in years greeted beachgoers last weekend, when swimming was preferred to surfing.
But the waves could soon pick up.
“It looks like we’ll have an increase in swell,” Ms Wong said.
“We’ve got a ridge of high pressure building across the Tasman Sea and perhaps the trough in the Coral Sea will bring some stronger winds across a larger fetch and maybe give us an increase in swell on the weekend.
“Depending on how those systems line up it does look like there will be better swell, but the weather won’t be as good.
“It looks like the winds on the Coast will increase so it (the surf) could be wind driven and wave height could increase to above 2m for the long weekend, and increasing on Sunday and Monday, potentially up to 3m.”
