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Rainbow Bay Surf Forecast
/ QLD – Gold Coast (23 breaks) / New South Wales (297 breaks) /
Surf Forecasts:
Rainbow Bay surfForecast / QLD – Gold Coast / Australia
48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 am Thursday 21 May 2026 AESTForecast update in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Rainbow Bay surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.
Today's Rainbow Bay sea temperature is
23.9° C
(Which is slightly warmer than usual)How big are the waves at Rainbow Bay today?
The current surf forecast for Rainbow Bay at 8AM is: 3.0m 9s primary swell from a South-southeast direction and 1.1m 10s secondary swell from a East direction (forecast issued at 03:00am May 21). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore.
| Time (AEST) & Date | Wave Height | Wave Period |
|---|---|---|
| Morning (21 May) | 10ft (3.0m) | 9s |
| Afternoon (21 May) | 10ft (3.0m) | 9s |
| Evening (21 May) | 10ft (3.0m) | 9s |
Table - waves today at Rainbow Bay. (Swell directed towards the surf break)
Updates in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Short Range ForecastLight rain (total 2mm), mostly falling on Fri night. Warm (max 22°C on Sat morning, min 16°C on Thu night). Mainly fresh winds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday 21 | Friday 22 | Saturday 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1 AM | 4 AM | 7 AM | 10 AM | 1 PM | 4 PM | 7 PM | 10 PM | 1 AM | 4 AM | 7 AM | 10 AM | 1 PM | 4 PM | 7 PM | 10 PM | 1 AM | 4 AM | 7 AM | 10 AM | 1 PM | 4 PM | 7 PM | 10 PM | |
Swell Height Map |    |    |    | |||||||||||||||||||||
SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 10 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 10 | SSE 10 | SE 12 | SSE 11 | SSE 13 | SSE 12 | SSE 12 | SE 12 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | ESE 11 | |
1331 | 1297 | 1575 | 1361 | 1274 | 1441 | 1524 | 1593 | 1835 | 2275 | 2714 | 1959 | 4937 | 7284 | 7106 | 5959 | 5025 | 3685 | 3376 | 3097 | 2921 | 2863 | 2930 | 2482 | |
Wind (km/h) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | off | off | off | off | off | cross-off | cross-off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | off | |
High Tide | 11:04PM1.92m | 11:38AM1.20m | 11:58PM1.83m | 12:42PM1.20m | 00:55AM1.74m | 1:51PM1.24m | ||||||||||||||||||
Low Tide | 5:58AM0.44m | 5:06PM0.53m | 6:57AM0.49m | 6:08PM0.62m | 7:56AM0.52m | 7:20PM0.70m | ||||||||||||||||||
 | |  | | | |  | | |  |  | |  | | | | |  | | | | | | | |
 | — | 6:22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6:22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6:24 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
 | — | — | — | — | — | 5:00 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:00 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:00 | — | — |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Temp °C | 16 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 |
12 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | E 9 | E 9 | E 9 | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | SE 12 | E 10 | E 10 | E 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ESE 11 |
 kJ | 260 | 214 | 223 | 230 | 225 | 211 | 173 | 137 | 116 | 92 | 65 | 1959 | 46 | 29 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2482 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 10 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 9 | SSE 10 | SSE 10 | S 10 | SSE 11 | SSE 13 | SSE 12 | SSE 12 | SE 12 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | SE 11 | S 8 |
| kJ | 1331 | 1297 | 1575 | 1361 | 1274 | 1441 | 1524 | 1593 | 1835 | 2275 | 2714 | 1765 | 4937 | 7284 | 7106 | 5959 | 5025 | 3685 | 3376 | 3097 | 2921 | 2863 | 2930 | 273 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 170 | 279 | 324 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 203 | 170 | 170 | 755 | 170 | 170 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 667 | 667 | 1 | 0 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Gold Coast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)- Wind Speed (km/h)
FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website
The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our Rainbow Bay surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.
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