Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2012

Rip Current Statement 3, NWS Tallahassee, FL

February 14, 2012Bay County, Gulf County, Walton County, Florida

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this rip current statement at Feb 14, 2012, 8:15 AM CST for Bay County, Gulf County, Walton County, Florida. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 14, 2012, 8:15 AM CST (14:15 UTC)
Expired: Feb 14, 2012, 4:00 PM CST
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: NWS Tallahassee, FL

Counties Bay County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Walton County, FL

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:18 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, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 940 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 379 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 439 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.

184 
WHUS42 KTAE 141415
CFWTAE

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
915 AM EST TUE FEB 14 2012

...A HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK IS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR
WALTON...BAY AND GULF COUNTIES...

.A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE EAST AND ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. AHEAD
OF THIS FRONT...STRONG AND GUSTY ONSHORE WINDS ARE EXPECTED OVER
WALTON COUNTY BEACHES. THIS WILL KICK SURF HEIGHTS UP TO 3 TO 4
FEET WITH A FEW SPOTS POSSIBLY 4 TO 5 FEET WHICH WILL IN TURN
GREATLY INCREASE THE THREAT FOR RIP CURRENTS.

FLZ108-112-114-142200-
/O.NEW.KTAE.RP.S.0003.120214T1415Z-120214T2200Z/
SOUTH WALTON-COASTAL BAY-COASTAL GULF-
915 AM EST TUE FEB 14 2012 /815 AM CST TUE FEB 14 2012/

...RIP CURRENT RISK IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM EST /4 PM CST/ THIS
AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS ISSUED A RIP
CURRENT RISK...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM EST /4 PM CST/ THIS
AFTERNOON. 

* WAVES AND SURF...3 TO 4 FEET WITH A FEW SPOTS REACHING 5 FEET. 

* TIMING...TODAY INTO THIS EVENING.

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. 

&&

$$

BLOCK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 13, 8:31 PM CST	Small Craft Advisory	TAE		13 hr

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.