Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2015

Rip Current Statement 1, NWS Melbourne, FL

February 7, 2015Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at Feb 7, 2015, 11:09 AM EST for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 7, 2015, 11:09 AM EST (16:09 UTC)
Expired: Feb 7, 2015, 7:00 PM EST
In force: 8 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 16:15 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, 4.2 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1455 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 69 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.

947 
WHUS42 KMLB 071609
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1109 AM EST SAT FEB 7 2015

...NUMEROUS STRONG RIP CURRENTS HAVE DEVELOPED THIS MORNING ALONG
THE FLORIDA EAST CENTRAL COAST...

CALLS TO LOCAL BEACH PATROLS INDICATE NUMEROUS STRONG RIP CURRENT
ACTIVITY HAS INCREASED IN THE SURF ZONE. BUOY OBSERVATIONS INDICATE
A LENGTHENING...LONG PERIOD SWELL OF 4 TO 5 FEET HAS DEVELOPED THIS
MORNING.

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-080000-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0001.150207T1609Z-150208T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
1109 AM EST SAT FEB 7 2015

...RIP CURRENT RISK IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A RIP
CURRENT RISK...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING. 

* TIMING...THE RISK WILL REMAIN HIGH FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
  SUNSET. 

* IMPACTS...A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS MEANS SWELL CONDITIONS
  WILL SUPPORT STRONG AND DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS. RIP CURRENTS CAN
  BE LIFE THREATENING TO ANYONE ENTERING THE SURF.

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, 2015 Every rip current statement in 2015

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.