Swell measuring 5.75 metres was recorded off Brisbane on Sunday morning, and the surf it is driving has southeast Queensland's beaches under a damaging surf warning through Monday, from the New South Wales border to Cape Moreton.
The Bureau of Meteorology's coastal hazard warning, issued at 4.57am Monday, says damaging surf may cause coastal erosion and localised damage to infrastructure along the Gold Coast, Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island, and is "expected to persist into Monday". The Brisbane wave buoy's 5.75-metre significant wave height was observed at 8.30am Sunday, the Tweed offshore buoy read 5.03 metres that afternoon, and the Gold Coast Seaway clocked a 72km/h gust just after midnight. Hazardous surf warnings cover Gold Coast and Byron coast waters, with strong wind warnings for most of the Queensland coast into Tuesday.
The heavy weather stayed offshore. The rain event flagged for the east coast last week largely missed the capitals: Brisbane and Sydney both recorded nothing in the days to 9am Sunday, while Coffs Harbour Airport collected 36.4 millimetres. The system responsible, a low sitting off the coast, is throwing its energy at the coastline as waves rather than rainfall.
In the west, the Bureau's flood watch for the Moore and Hill river catchments remains current, with elevated levels and localised inundation still possible around Moora, though no further significant rain is forecast. Victoria's Kiewa River is still above the minor flood level at Bandiana and is expected to stay there into the week.
The next story is cold. Canberra is forecast to fall to minus 2 on Tuesday morning with frost, Perisher reaches a top of 1 degree by Thursday, and the Bureau rates snow showers likely over the Alps from midweek. For the coast, the hazardous surf warnings run to midnight Monday; in the west, the Bureau's next flood watch update for the Moore and Hill catchments is due by midday, western time.
