Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2014

Rip Current Statement 5, NWS Melbourne, FL

April 20, 2014Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at Apr 20, 2014, 6:03 AM EDT for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 14 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 20, 2014, 6:03 AM EDT (10:03 UTC)
Expired: Apr 20, 2014, 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 10:05 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, 10.1 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: 304 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 505 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 58 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.

362 
WHUS42 KMLB 201003
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
603 AM EDT SUN APR 20 2014

...HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT AREA BEACHES TODAY...

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-210000-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0005.140420T1003Z-140421T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
603 AM EDT SUN APR 20 2014

...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK IN EFFECT THROUGH 800 PM...

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

* TIMING...INCREASING NORTH WINDS COUPLED WITH A LONG PERIOD SWELL
  FROM AN OCEANIC STORM WILL PRODUCE A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS
  TODAY. WHILE THE RISK WILL BE HIGH ALL DAY...THE THREAT WILL BE
  EVEN HIGHER AROUND THE TIMES OF LOW TIDES...THROUGH ABOUT 900
  AM THIS MORNING AND AGAIN STARTING AROUND 300 PM THIS AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS...THE POWERFUL SEWARD PULL OF A RIP CURRENT CAN CARRY
  EVEN THE STRONGEST SWIMMER OUT BEYOND THE SAND BAR. BEACHGOERS
  AND ESPECIALLY WEAK SWIMMERS SHOULD HEED THE ADVICE OF THE BEACH
  PATROL. SWIM ONLY WITHIN SIGHT OF A LIFEGUARD. NEVER SWIM ALONE.

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.

&&

$$

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.