Northern New South Wales · Today

Crescent Head

Updated Wed, Sep 23, 9:40 AM GMT+10

When to go

9:43 AM–11:00 AM

Strong wind — difficult conditions · Low confidence

6.0–6.0 ft · Offshore waves · not face height

Strong wind: 10.6 kt · cross-shore

Cautions

Strong wind or gusts up to 21.6 kt can make the session difficult; being first in the list does not make conditions good.
Strong wind or gusts up to 24.7 kt can make the session difficult; being first in the list does not make conditions good.

Forecast details

This is the best time in the forecast, though wind may make it choppy.

Other wind windows

Plan around the wind

The best available upcoming daylight wind sample to compare with the wave evidence. This compares wind only; wave size, tide suitability, and hazards can change your choice.

2:00 PM–4:00 PM · Australia/Sydney
Strong wind · up to 10.5 kt · reported gusts up to 24.7 kt
Caution: This is the best available wind comparison, not a favorable-wind label. Strong wind remains in the selected evidence.
Offshore waves: 5.8–6.0 ft across the period. Surf height unavailable. Tide data unavailable.
Wind source time: Sep 23, 9:30 AM GMT+10. This is not the model run issue time.

How these periods are chosen

The planner prefers three consecutive hourly samples covering two daylight hours, but retains shorter one- or two-sample evidence when that is all the forecast provides. Light wind means at most 6 kt. Moderate offshore means at most 12 kt from land toward the sea when shore orientation is verified. Strong wind or known gusts of 20 kt or more remain visible as cautions instead of making the entire comparison disappear. These are comparison labels, not locally tested surf-quality or safety ratings. Missing gusts remain unknown. Terrain shelter, currents, closures, and your ability are not assessed.

Forecast confidence

Returned marine grid point is 13.8 km from the mapped spot. Provider grid resolution is not established for this response.
Reference model hour: 0 hours from now; historical residuals do not measure forecast lead-time error.
No accepted local model for these inputs: missing history, unsupported direction/period/height, or failed historical validation.
Tide unavailable: assessment incomplete, especially at shallow reef breaks.
A mapped coordinate does not establish nearshore grid resolution or terrain/shelter accuracy.

Wind NE 10.5 kt

Tide Unavailable

Wave, wind and tide details

Offshore model swellS 4.3 ft @ 10sValid 2026-09-23 10:00 · Australia/SydneyMarine grid -31.2083, 153.1250 · offshore model, not a local measurement

Offshore model sea6.0 ft @ 8.8sSignificant wave height including wind waves and swell; not breaking surfValid 2026-09-23 10:00 · Australia/Sydney

Model windNE 10.5 ktcross-shoreValid 2026-09-23 10:00 · Australia/Sydney6.5 kt onshore component

TideUnavailableunavailableNo verified local tide station connected; no tide height estimated

Surf height unavailable. Coastal and offshore waves are not breaking-wave heights.

Surf and wind

Recommended window: No recommended window

Breaking surf is not reliably resolved. Hourly offshore swell and wind inputs are listed below.

Hourly forecast

Hourly surf forecast for Crescent Head
Time	Wind	Tide	Offshore swell
12 AM	NE 7.8 ktonshore	Unavailableunavailable	SSE 4.9 ft @ 8s
1 AM	NE 8.4 ktonshore	Unavailableunavailable	SSE 4.8 ft @ 8s
2 AM	NE 7.9 ktonshore	Unavailableunavailable	SSE 4.7 ft @ 9s
3 AM	NE 8.1 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	SSE 4.5 ft @ 9s
4 AM	NE 8 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	SSE 4.4 ft @ 10s
5 AM	NE 8.4 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.4 ft @ 10s
6 AM	NE 8.6 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.4 ft @ 9s
7 AM	NE 8.7 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.4 ft @ 9s
8 AM	NE 9.1 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.3 ft @ 9s
9 AM	NE 9.4 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.3 ft @ 9s
10 AM	NE 10.5 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.3 ft @ 10s
11 AM	NE 10.6 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.2 ft @ 10s
Noon	NE 10.7 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.1 ft @ 11s
1 PM	NE 10.3 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.0 ft @ 11s
2 PM	NE 10.3 ktonshore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.1 ft @ 11s
3 PM	NE 10.5 ktonshore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.1 ft @ 10s
4 PM	NE 10.4 ktonshore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.2 ft @ 10s
5 PM	NE 9.6 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.2 ft @ 10s
6 PM	NE 8 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.1 ft @ 10s
7 PM	NNE 7.6 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.1 ft @ 10s
8 PM	NNE 6.8 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 4.1 ft @ 10s
9 PM	NNE 5.6 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 3.9 ft @ 10s
10 PM	N 5.4 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 3.9 ft @ 10s
11 PM	N 5.4 ktcross-shore	Unavailableunavailable	S 3.8 ft @ 10s

12 AMUnavailable

WindNE 7.8 ktonshoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellSSE 4.9 ft @ 8s

1 AMUnavailable

WindNE 8.4 ktonshoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellSSE 4.8 ft @ 8s

2 AMUnavailable

WindNE 7.9 ktonshoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellSSE 4.7 ft @ 9s

3 AMUnavailable

WindNE 8.1 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellSSE 4.5 ft @ 9s

4 AMUnavailable

WindNE 8 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellSSE 4.4 ft @ 10s

5 AMUnavailable

WindNE 8.4 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.4 ft @ 10s

6 AMUnavailable

WindNE 8.6 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.4 ft @ 9s

7 AMUnavailable

WindNE 8.7 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.4 ft @ 9s

8 AMUnavailable

WindNE 9.1 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.3 ft @ 9s

9 AMUnavailable

WindNE 9.4 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.3 ft @ 9s

10 AMUnavailable

WindNE 10.5 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.3 ft @ 10s

11 AMUnavailable

WindNE 10.6 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.2 ft @ 10s

NoonUnavailable

WindNE 10.7 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.1 ft @ 11s

1 PMUnavailable

WindNE 10.3 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.0 ft @ 11s

2 PMUnavailable

WindNE 10.3 ktonshoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.1 ft @ 11s

3 PMUnavailable

WindNE 10.5 ktonshoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.1 ft @ 10s

4 PMUnavailable

WindNE 10.4 ktonshoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.2 ft @ 10s

5 PMUnavailable

WindNE 9.6 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.2 ft @ 10s

6 PMUnavailable

WindNE 8 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.1 ft @ 10s

7 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 7.6 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.1 ft @ 10s

8 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 6.8 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 4.1 ft @ 10s

9 PMUnavailable

WindNNE 5.6 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 3.9 ft @ 10s

10 PMUnavailable

WindN 5.4 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 3.9 ft @ 10s

11 PMUnavailable

WindN 5.4 ktcross-shoreTideUnavailableunavailableOffshore swellS 3.8 ft @ 10s

Tide

Local tide station unavailable

Tide predictions are unavailable for this period.

About this spot

Model-grid forecast requested at the mapped coordinate; reef, headland, and nearshore transformations are unresolved. Point break. Published named-break coordinate; the source describes an exposed point with east-southeast swell and west offshore-wind exposure. BOM zone: Macquarie Coast.

Mapped spot coordinate: -31.1859, 152.9823.

Mainland · Northern NSW east-facing exposed point coast · Ocean-facing bearing 90° · Location provenance

Model request point: Crescent Head (-31.1859, 152.9823). Model output times describe valid conditions; the provider does not expose the model run issue time in this response.

Forecast sources

Data coverage 2/6 sources

Source availability is not forecast accuracy. Where an empirical model passes historical testing, its error and interval coverage are shown above. Source count cannot increase that confidence.

Coverage tier B · AU_NSW · spot-level model point

Australian Bureau of Meteorology Marine Forecasts/AUSWAVE
BOM publishes Byron Coast for Angourie, Lennox Head, The Pass, and Wategos; Coffs Coast for Coffs Harbour; and Macquarie Coast for Crescent Head, but blocks application access. No zone is scraped, merged, or presented as break-level surf.UnavailableNo source time
NSW Manly Hydraulics Laboratory Wave Data
NSW Manly Hydraulics Laboratory wave and tide access returned an explicit location restriction for non-Australian visitors; no station response, observation, or tide value is substituted.UnavailableNo source time
Australian Ocean Data Network / IMOS
AusWaves identifies NSW Waves as an official live network, but its buoy-list endpoint returned HTTP 401 with an empty response; no station identity, coordinates, timestamp, units, cadence, distance, or exposure could be validated for assignment.UnavailableNo source time
WorldTides API
No tide prediction with verified station identity, distance, datum, timezone, and current response is connected.UnavailableNo source time
Open-Meteo Marine API
1 of 1 configured model points availableCurrentSep 23, 9:30 AM GMT+10
Open-Meteo Weather API
1 of 1 configured model points availableCurrentSep 23, 9:30 AM GMT+10
Surf-Forecast public pages
Spot discovery and break-specific HTML fallbackNot applicableNo source time
Surfline public spot pages
Break-specific comparison, cams, and metadataNot applicableNo source time

How best guesses are made

Best guesses combine usable wave and wind evidence, with qualitative confidence and specific limitations. A missing tide or local surf-height model does not prevent useful guidance. Tide levels use the named station datum; their effect at this break remains uncertain. Wind direction is relative to the mapped beach orientation, without calibrated terrain or shelter effects. The comparison is a heuristic, not a measured quality rating.