Snapper Rocks surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 11pm
4–5 ft · sets to 6
Fair-GoodNo window today · next tomorrow All day (5am–6pm)
Swell lines up; wind is tolerable.
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 11pm readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell5.7 ft · 8 s · EMakes the wave: 91% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.8 ft · 9 s · ESESecondary: 9% of the energy. Direction at the break. Bent 21° from SE in deep water.
- Wind6 mph from the SECross-shore to a shoreline facing 23°Moderate
- Tide-1.3 ft, risingNext high 0.1 ft at 3:54am · NAVD88, TICON gold_coast_southport-60051-aus-bom predicted (no observed source in AU)
- BreakerPlungingBreaks in about 8 ft of water
- Energy213 kJHeight² × period²Punchy
- Water73° · air — · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowNone today · next Tomorrow All day (5am–6pm)
No usable window in daylight today.
Against what Snapper Rocks likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not Good
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 11pmKirra, Currumbin Alley and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand over the rock at Point Danger, the head of the Superbank
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand over the rock at Point Danger, the head of the Superbank
- 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 11pm). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
Two swells at once
5.7 ft at 8s from the E carrying 91% of the energy, plus 1.8 ft at 9s from the ESE (9%).
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 0.87 · 88% 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
-1.3 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 8 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 cross-shore
6 mph from the SE, against a shoreline facing 23°.
Running across the face rather than into or against it. Less destructive than a straight onshore, but it puts a texture on the wall and can make the peak harder to read.
How Snapper Rocks worksThe top of the Superbank, the continuous sandbar the Tweed…
The top of the Superbank, the continuous sandbar the Tweed bypass built from Snapper through Rainbow Bay and Greenmount toward Kirra. On its day a wave started at the rocks runs for well over a kilometre. It is also, reliably, the most crowded wave in the country.
- Best tideall
- Best swellE–SE swell
- Suitsadvanced
2 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Snapper Rocks
- What is the best tide for Snapper Rocks?
- Snapper Rocks works best on all 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 Snapper Rocks?
- E–SE swell suits Snapper Rocks 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 Snapper Rocks good for beginners?
- Snapper Rocks suits advanced surfers, over sand over the rock at Point Danger, the head of the Superbank. 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 Snapper Rocks?
- sand over the rock at Point Danger, the head of the Superbank. 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 Snapper Rocks on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.