Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2011

Rip Current Statement 13, NWS Tallahassee, FL

October 20, 2011Bay County, Gulf County, Florida

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this rip current statement at Oct 20, 2011, 1:19 PM CDT for Bay County, Gulf County, Florida. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Oct 20, 2011, 1:19 PM CDT (18:19 UTC)
Expired: Oct 20, 2011, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Tallahassee, FL

Counties Bay County, FL, Gulf County, FL

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:18 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 116 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1185 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -82 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

132 
WHUS42 KTAE 201819
CFWTAE

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
219 PM EDT THU OCT 20 2011

...A HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT /7 PM CDT/
THIS EVENING FOR THE BAY AND GULF COUNTY BEACHES...

.STRONG NORTHWESTERLY FLOW THIS AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE TO
GENERATE MODERATE SURF OF 3 TO 4 FEET AT WESTWARD FACING BEACHES
OF BAY AND GULF COUNTIES. THIS WILL CREATE A HIGH RISK OF RIP
CURRENTS FOR THESE AREAS. WINDS AND SEAS WILL SUBSIDE THIS
EVENING...ALONG WITH THE RIP CURRENT THREAT.

FLZ112-114-210000-
/O.NEW.KTAE.RP.S.0013.111020T1819Z-111021T0000Z/
COASTAL BAY-COASTAL GULF-
219 PM EDT THU OCT 20 2011 /119 PM CDT THU OCT 20 2011/

...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT /7 PM CDT/ THIS
EVENING...

* WAVES AND SURF...2 TO 4 FEET WITH A FEW 5 FOOT SETS.

* TIMING...THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS...STRONG NORTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL GENERATE STRONG RIP
  CURRENTS ALONG THE WESTWARD FACING BEACHES OF BAY AND GULF
  COUNTIES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS. RIP CURRENTS ARE POWERFUL
CHANNELS OF WATER FLOWING QUICKLY AWAY FROM SHORE...WHICH OCCUR
MOST OFTEN AT LOW SPOTS OR BREAKS IN THE SANDBAR AND IN THE
VICINITY OF STRUCTURES SUCH AS GROINS...JETTIES AND PIERS. HEED
THE ADVICE OF LIFEGUARDS AND THE BEACH PATROL. PAY ATTENTION TO
FLAGS AND POSTED SIGNS. IF YOU BECOME CAUGHT IN A RIP CURRENT...
DO NOT PANIC. REMAIN CALM AND BEGIN TO SWIM PARALLEL TO SHORE.
ONCE YOU ARE AWAY FROM THE FORCE OF THE RIP CURRENT...BEGIN TO
SWIM BACK TO THE BEACH. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SWIM DIRECTLY AGAINST A
RIP CURRENT. EVEN A STRONG SWIMMER CAN BECOME EXHAUSTED QUICKLY. 

&&

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tallahassee, FL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 20, 3:25 AM CDT	Red Flag Warning	TAE	Gadsden, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Madison, Taylor and 1 more	15 hr

Nearby

Rip Current Statements in Florida, 2011 Every rip current statement in 2011

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.