Mooloolaba Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get into it.

Look, the next 16 days are a bit of a grind for Mooloolaba. There’s no real fire in the forecast, just a lot of small, average days. The best of what’s on offer is a short window around Sunday the 9th of August, but even that’s not a classic. We’re looking at a long stretch of very ordinary conditions, and the first week especially is pretty quiet. The swell energy is weak for most of it, with combined energy values sitting in the double digits for days on end, barely scraping into the low hundreds.

We start off with a bit of a gap. The first call is a Tuesday morning, the 4th of August. Mooloolaba is a beach and reef setup, inconsistent, and often crowded. The water temp is sitting at 68°F, which is 2°F cooler than average for this time of year – nothing unusual there. Tuesday morning sees a tiny 2ft swell from the SE, with a short period of 9 seconds. The combined energy is a weak 103. The wind is light and offshore from the S, so it’s clean, but the waves are just too small to get excited about. It’s surfable, but only just. Tuesday afternoon turns cross-on and the conditions drop off.

Wednesday the 5th offers a bit more hope. The morning sees a glassy surface with offshore wind from the WSW, and the swell bumps up to 3ft from the E. The period is 10 seconds, and the combined energy reaches 170 – moderate energy. It’s clean, but still very ordinary. This is the best you’ll see in the first week, but it’s not a standout.

Thursday the 6th is back to tiny 2ft swell with glassy conditions in the morning, but the period is short at 8 seconds. The energy is weak at 85. It’s clean, but the lack of push is a bummer.

The real standout is the morning of Sunday the 9th of August. We get a 5ft swell from the E, with a period of 9 seconds and a combined energy of 331. That’s a solid moderate energy pulse. The wind is coming from the SSE at 10 km/h, which is a clean cross-offshore breeze. The conditions are clean, and the report says to expect good surf. This is the best session in the whole outlook. The 5ft swell is fine for most intermediate surfers, but it’s not big enough to worry beginners. The afternoon has a bit of a cross-on breeze, so get it in the morning.

After that, it’s a slow fade. From Monday the 10th right through to the end of the 16 days, the swell drops back to the 2ft to 4ft range, with combined energy mostly under 200. The wind is often strong, with gusts up to 30 km/h on the 16th and 17th, and consistently cross-offshore. The periods are short, around 6 to 10 seconds, so the waves are lumpy and weak. By the second week, it’s a real struggle for anything rideable. The 18th and 19th see a little bump to 3ft and 4ft, but the period is only 6 to 8 seconds, so it’s not going to be much fun.

Overall, if you’re going to paddle out, make it Sunday morning the 9th. Otherwise, the kites might be more interesting than the paddle surfers on the beach and reef setup here, especially when the wind is strong.

Rusty.

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