4T Fingers Weather Information relevant to the Tweed Coast NSW Spc
 
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Information
PageViewed: 13910
ServerTime: Broken
PageEdited:  19/11/2008
Sun-Moon-Tide
Kingscliff (Meters)
Todays Sun, Moon & Tide
Saturday
2008-11-22
Sun:    rise5:42am-set7:21pm
Moon: rise2:05am-set 2:28pm
High:   5:23am 1.1
Low:    11:01am 0.4
High:   5:23pm 1.2
Low:    11:43pm 0.2
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Todays Weather

Thursday: W/NW 13/18 knots. Sea: 1/1.5 metres. Swell: NE 2/2.5 metres.
Friday: W/SW 10/15 knots tending N/NE during the afternoon and increasing to 15/20 knots in the evening before tending NW later. Sea: 1/1.5 metres increasing to 1.5/2 metres in the evening. Swell: E/NE 2/2.5 metres.
Outlook Saturday: W/NW 20/30 knots ahead of a W/SW change 20/30 knots during the day.
Outlook Sunday: S/SW 25/35 knots, reaching 40 knots offshore at times.
Issued Thu 17:10 EDT
Seas: Up to 2.0m
Swell: Up to 2.5m, ENE

Forecast Winds

Thursday:W/NW 13/18 kts
Friday:N/NE 15/20 kts
Saturday:W/SW change 20/30 kts
Sunday:S/SW 40 kts
 

BOM Precis

Thursday Evening Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Fresh north to northwest winds.
Surf Report 
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:05
3+ft E swell
Clean conditions with 3+ft
of E swell and offshore W
winds early. It will improve
on the incoming tide `after
the 7.30 low and will stay
offshore all day with NW
winds predicted later. D'bak
and the northern beaches
will be the pick and low
tide waves on the points at
Burleigh and Currumbin Alley
early. Check out Ben Mac's
latest forecast. SW/NW winds
15/20kts, tending NW at
20/25kts. Seas 1.8 metres.
Showers. 22°C 71°F
Wind: 10kts
High Tide: 02:17 am & 02:19
pm
Low Tide: 07:40 am & 09:06
pm
Air Temp: Max 30°C
© Copyright Coastalwatch.
Moon Phase
 
Phase: Third Quarter Moon
Illumination: 53.1%
Full in: 22 days
New in: 8 days
Your Comments



255 characters left
Possible First Cyclone for Indian ocean 2008-9 Posted by Dave
on 17th November, 2008 @ 15:33
Good to have U back. I was getting Anxiety Symptoms Posted by Guest Kevin
on 13th September, 2008 @ 21:11
Thanks to telstra cable troubles I have not had internet access for the last week sorry if you have waited and were trying to vist the site Posted by Dave
on 12th September, 2008 @ 20:36
ARGUS server has changed again so I will revert to the old script and try to get the time to update it again later Posted by Dave
on 6th September, 2008 @ 11:48
I'll have a look but I havet seen anything available before Posted by Dave
on 4th September, 2008 @ 21:29
You have a Surf report , how about a Dive report Posted by Guest Kev
on 2nd September, 2008 @ 16:05
Tweedbar page is being tested with a new script so may cause a few dramas but the ARGUS website has not been updating since 25th tell me about it Posted by Dave
on 29th August, 2008 @ 09:44
4T Fingers Computing Tweed Bar - Wave & Swell Images

Only 31 days to go until the Next Summer Solstice the longest day of the year.

The Tweed River Bar - Wave Amplitude & Swell Size Images

Images from "Water Research Laboratory", Uni. of NSW
Tweed River Bar
Updated during Daylight Hours, when available! Debug Info. Source "Kevins USO"
The Latest Visible Tweed River Entrance and Duranbar Beach Swell and Conditions Image
Rainbow Bay  Updated during Daylight Hours, when available! Source
Latest Rainbow - Hourly (Daylight Hours) Image Update
Snapper  Updated during Daylight Hours, when available! Source
Latest Snapper- Hourly (Daylight Hours) Image Update


The images are of the Tweed River Entrance And Rainbow located on the North Coast New South Wales (Australia).



The images are updated Hourly, on the half hour, (most of the time) during Daylight hours.



They are being collected and analysed to quantify beach conditions, following the construction of a sand bypassing system at the nearby entrance to the Tweed River.



A Camera is mounted on the Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse, hosted by the Point Danger Volunteer Marine Rescue Station.

Waverider Bouy Tweed River Bar - Swell Size (Estimate)

Note: This is experimental and IS likely to have errors. Script has been updated on the 13th Feb 2008 to make allow for changes in the source image scale.
Source Update Hourly on the ½hr but is 2hrs behind real time. It is based on a script that reads the pixels of the Tweed River (wave height plot) below HSIG: The average of the highest one third of the waves. The likely maximum wave height can be up to twice the significant wave height, occuring around 1 in 2000 waves.
Swell Sizes 2hrs Ago3hr TrendSwell Sizes 5hrs Ago
1.09m with a Max of 1.85m Small Increase 1.02m with a Max of 1.89m

Waverider Bouy Tweed River Bar - Wave Direction (Estimate)

Note: This is experimental and the accuracy is Weak at best. Source Update Hourly on the ½hr but is 2hrs behind real time. It is based on a script that reads the pixels of the Tweed River (wave direction plot) with 16-24 scans averaged to give the resultant direction Click HERE to view the Graph
Key to Compass Points - 0° is NORTH, 90° is EAST, 180° is SOUTH and 270° is WEST
Average Wave Direction 2hrs Ago - SEAverage Wave Direction 24hrs Ago - E
126.45°88.52°
Cropped - Current Tweed Bar Swell Plot

A Little Information About this Page

There is a lot going on in the Background on The WEB Server When You Visit this page.

For the TweedBar and Rainbow Images

The Server First checks to see if the Present Hour is Within the Hours of Todays Sunrise and Sunset or after Sunrise But before Midnight. The Process forks at this point.
1. Daylight Hours
The Server Next Checks to see if there is already images for the Present Daylight Hour already locally cached.
    If they do EXIST it will then send those Current Tweedbar and Rainbow images to your Browser.
    If they are not cached the website Connection is checked and if it is available the images are downloaded and processed and then sent to your Browser.
NB: Remember! The Present Hour is Available At 33mins Past the Hour.
2. Darkness Hours
If the present time is after Sunset But still before Midnight the server checks to see if the Sunset Images exist.
   If they do it will send those images to your Browser.
   If the Sunset Images are not already cached the server downloads, processes and sends the Sunset images to your Browser.
3. Else
If The Present Hour is before Sunrise and no-one has visited the site between Sunrise and Midnight the server delivers the Last previously processed Images of TweedBar and Rainbow. These images Might Be Yesterdays or even earlier, Thems the Breaks! But Hey, it saves me Bandwidth on Useless Image Processing.

IE: It, (this server), always sends the cached Images to your Browser BUT they might have to be downloaded & processed first. Which explains why a page refresh might Update the Images Displayed!

Downloading AND Processing
If there are No Currently Cached Images, It will proceed to Download the NEW image from the University of New South Wales Coastal Imaging Department's website, (if it is available), crop those images, backup the Previous Old Images to a new name that represents the Hour of the Page Display (Which I will allow a Display of The Archives on another WebPage when I get time etc).
Explaination for the Speed Differences when this Page is Viewed.
If you are the First Visitor During That Hour Then You Will have to wait while the script runs, but if you are the second, third, etc you will just get the images thus speeding up the display.

For the TweedBar Swell Size and Direction

Every Hour The Server downloads the the Swell/Wave Height and Swell Direction Images. It then Crops the Downloaded Wave Height image and backs up the last image. This is to enable faster Local Processing of the Graphical Data.
The TweedBar Swell Size
It, (this server), Reads the Images Pixels Using PHP's GD functions "imagecolorat()" & "imagecolorsforindex()" and compares the resultant indexes of the amounts of red,blue,green used in the graph's plotlines reading the appropriate x,y co-ordinates of a matched index, these are then scaled using the graph limits.

The Graph Limits are determined using The Same PHP's GD Functions to read plotlines pixels. The Origin (x,y) is found using some very crude Optical Character Recognition PHP code to "see" the Numeral used at the Origin point on the graph, IE: 0.1,2,3,4 etc
The Scale is then found by summing the PHP Code "seen" Y scale tick marks along the Right Hand Edge of the Graph to "obtain" the number of meters the scale covers, ie 13ticks = 3m, 17ticks = 4m etc

The results are the Delivered to Your Browser in a Table Showing the Current Images Reading, it's Previous Readings and the trend. If the Size of the Swell is 1.5 meters or Greater the colour of the text is Pink. If it's size is below 1.5 meters the text is Grey
The TweedBar Wave Direction
This is performed using very similar code to The swell Size PHP script. The differences are in the Scale and the way the Results are presented

The University Image Represents a Graph of Magnetic bearings on the Y Scale plotted against time on the X Scale...
  • So that South is at BOTH the Top and the Bottom of the Y Scale.
  • The ZERO point on the Y Scale is NORTH.
  • The Top of the Graph shows Swell/Waves from The SE Quadrant and NE Quadrant.
  • The Bottom shows Swell/Waves from The SW Quadrant and NW Quadrant. IE: WESTERLY WAVES

It can be Fairly Successfully assumed that a WEST Swell will be Fairly Unlikely! But Not impossible As the WaveRider Bouy is Situated OffShore. The Chance of a Stong West wind on an otherwise Flat Sea will Produce Wind Waves from the West, even if they are very small. Just like any other body of water.

So we don't need to find the origin of the Graph, it is constant, we just use 2 fixed Pixels to Degrees Ratio to register the Compass Bearing the Swell/Waves are coming From. One Ratio for the EAST Top half of the graph and another for the WEST Bottom half.

Results are presented both as...
  1. A table showing the Current Bearing and The older 24 hours ago Bearing
  2. A PHP GD created Image Showing the Bearings.

Debugging Information: ( -Back- )
FileName: 2008112103.jpg

Predawn Hours - But the Sunset Images from Yesterday are Cached
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