Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2012

Rip Current Statement 6, NWS Melbourne, FL

September 16, 2012Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at Sep 16, 2012, 4:18 AM EDT for Volusia County, Florida. It took effect at Sep 16, 2012, 6:00 AM EDT. It was in force for 14 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 16, 2012, 4:18 AM EDT (08:18 UTC)
In effect from: Sep 16, 2012, 6:00 AM EDT
Expired: Sep 16, 2012, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 14 hr
Issued by: NWS Melbourne, FL

County Volusia County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:18 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

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 00:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 168 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: 81 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1009 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 23 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.

286 
WHUS42 KMLB 160818
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
418 AM EDT SUN SEP 16 2012

...DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS EXPECTED TODAY...

.LONG PERIOD SWELLS FROM DISTANT TROPICAL CYCLONE NADINE ARE
REACHING THE EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA BEACHES. THIS USUALLY GENERATES
STRONG RIP CURRENTS.

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-170000-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0006.120916T1000Z-120917T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
418 AM EDT SUN SEP 16 2012

...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A HIGH RIP
CURRENT RISK...WHICH IS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING. 

* TIMING...THE SURF ZONE WILL BE HAZARDOUS ALL DAY BUT THE
  STRONGEST RIP CURRENTS ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR BETWEEN 11 AM AND
  5 PM DUE TO TIDAL EFFECTS.

* IMPACTS...ONSHORE WINDS WILL NOT BE VERY STRONG SO THE OCEAN MAY
  LOOK RATHER INVITING. WHEN THE RIP CURRENT RISK IS HIGH...THE
  SURF ZONE IS DANGEROUS FOR ALL LEVELS OF SWIMMERS.

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 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.

&&

$$

KELLY

Nearby

Rip Current Statements in Florida, 2012 Every rip current statement in 2012

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.