Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2013

Rip Current Statement 7, NWS Melbourne, FL

May 5, 2013Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at May 5, 2013, 5:03 AM EDT for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 15 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 2013, 5:03 AM EDT (09:03 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2013, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 15 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 09:05 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, 9.1 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: 122 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 470 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 152 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 403 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

491 
WHUS42 KMLB 050903
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
503 AM EDT SUN MAY 5 2013

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-060000-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0007.130505T0903Z-130506T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
503 AM EDT SUN MAY 5 2013

...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...ROUGH SURF WILL OCCUR ALL DAY AT THE BEACHES. THE RIP
  CURRENT RISK WILL BE HIGHEST THIS MORNING AND THROUGH EARLY
  AFTERNOON DUE TO TIDAL EFFECTS.

* IMPACTS...THE SURF MAY LOOK MORE INVITING TODAY DUE TO AN
  OFFSHORE WIND FLOW...BUT HIGH WAVE ENERGY WILL BE IMPACTING THE
  BEACHES AND GENERATING DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS. LIFEGUARDS
  REPORTED STRONG RIP CURRENTS YESTERDAY AND THIS SHOULD BE THE
  CASE AGAIN TODAY.

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.

&&

$$

LASCODY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 4:33 AM EDT	Small Craft Advisory for Hazardous Seas	MLB		7 hr

Nearby

Rip Current Statements in Florida, 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.