Burleigh Heads surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 1pm
5–6 ft · sets to 8
Poor-FairBest available today All day (1–6pm)
Swell lines up. Wind is the limiting factor.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 1pm readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell6.0 ft · 6 s · ESEMakes the wave: 78% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 3.2 ft · 10 s · SESecondary: 22% of the energy. Direction at the break. Bent 19° from SSE in deep water.
- Wind14 mph from the ESEOnshore to a shoreline facing 82°Strong
- Tide1.6 ft, fallingNext low -1.2 ft at 7:39pm · NAVD88, TICON gold_coast_southport-60051-aus-bom predicted (no observed source in AU)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 10 ft of water
- Energy174 kJHeight² × period²Moderate
- Water72° · air — · UV 9
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (1–6pm)
No strong window today. Onshore wind all day; lightest 5–6pm.
Against what Burleigh Heads likesWhy it is Poor-Fair, not Fair
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 1pmPalm Beach, Currumbin Alley and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand over a basalt boulder point
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand over a basalt boulder point
- DepthNSW Marine LiDAR Topo-Bathy 2018 (5 m, AHD). Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like thisTwo swells at once, the seafloor is neutral here, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 1pm). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
Two swells at once
6.0 ft at 6s from the ESE carrying 78% of the energy, plus 3.2 ft at 10s from the SE (22%).
The shorter, steeper train is carrying most of the energy here, so expect a choppier, less organised lineup than the longest period in the list would suggest on its own. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.91 · 92% of modelled rays break.
Energy arrives roughly as it left deep water: this bottom neither concentrates the swell nor fans it out, so what the buoy sees is close to what you get. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
1.6 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 10 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Wind is onshore
14 mph from the ESE, against a shoreline facing 82°.
Pushing into the back of the wave from the sea, making it crumble and break early instead of standing up. Note this is measured against the angle THIS break faces, which is why one spot can be blown out while the one round the headland is fine.
How Burleigh Heads worksWhen a cyclone swell wraps around the headland, Burleigh throws…
When a cyclone swell wraps around the headland, Burleigh throws a barrel from the Cove through to the beach that stands with any point in the world. It needs size and direction together — too small and it does not wrap, too north and it misses — and it is one of the heaviest crowds in Australia when it is on.
- Best tidemid to low
- Best swellE–SE cyclone swell
- Suitsadvanced
2 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Burleigh Heads
- What is the best tide for Burleigh Heads?
- Burleigh Heads works best on mid to low tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Burleigh Heads?
- E–SE cyclone swell suits Burleigh Heads best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Burleigh Heads good for beginners?
- Burleigh Heads suits advanced surfers, over sand over a basalt boulder point. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Burleigh Heads?
- sand over a basalt boulder point. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Burleigh Heads on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.