Alert archive / Texas / Rip Current Statements in 2013

Rip Current Statement 1, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

April 10, 20134 counties in Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this rip current statement at Apr 10, 2013, 5:05 AM CDT for 4 counties in Texas. It was in force for 14 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 10, 2013, 5:05 AM CDT (10:05 UTC)
Expired: Apr 10, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 14 hr
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

Counties Brazoria County, TX, Chambers County, TX, Galveston County, TX, Matagorda County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:02 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 266 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: 2125 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -427 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1254 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

377 
WHUS44 KHGX 101005
CFWHGX

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
505 AM CDT WED APR 10 2013

...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK TODAY...

.LARGE SWELLS AND ELEVATED TIDE LEVELS WILL LEAD TO HIGH 
RIP CURRENT RISK TODAY. CONDITIONS SHOULD END EARLY THIS 
EVENING IN THE WAKE OF A COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE.

TXZ214-236>238-110000-
/O.NEW.KHGX.RP.S.0001.130410T1005Z-130411T0000Z/
BRAZORIA-CHAMBERS-GALVESTON-MATAGORDA-
505 AM CDT WED APR 10 2013

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

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

* TIMING...THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND ENDING THIS EVENING.

* IMPACTS...DANGEROUS WATER CONDITIONS WITH STRONG AND UNUSUAL 
  RIP CURRENTS USE EXTREME CAUTION IF SWIMMING OR SURFING. 

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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.

&&

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 10, 4:29 AM CDT	Small Craft Advisory	HGX		29 hr

Nearby

Rip Current Statements in Texas, 2013 Every rip current statement in 2013

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.