Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2014

Rip Current Statement 2, NWS Melbourne, FL

March 21, 2014Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at Mar 21, 2014, 10:27 AM EDT for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 10 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 21, 2014, 10:27 AM EDT (14:27 UTC)
Expired: Mar 21, 2014, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 10 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 14:30 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

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 91 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: 5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 974 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 128 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.

428 
WHUS42 KMLB 211427
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1027 AM EDT FRI MAR 21 2014

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-220000-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0002.140321T1427Z-140322T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
1027 AM EDT FRI MAR 21 2014

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A HIGH RIP
CURRENT RISK...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING. 

* TIMING...LINGERING LONG PERIOD SWELLS WILL CONTINUE A HIGHER
  THREAT FOR RIP CURRENTS TODAY ALONG AREA BEACHES. THE THREAT
  WILL BE HIGHEST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS AND INTO THE EARLY
  EVENING DUE TO TIDAL EFFECTS.

* IMPACTS...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.

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.

&&

$$

WEITLICH

Nearby

Rip Current Statements in Florida, 2014 Every rip current statement in 2014

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.