Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2015

Rip Current Statement 14, NWS Melbourne, FL

May 31, 2015Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at May 31, 2015, 4:03 AM EDT for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 17 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 2015, 4:03 AM EDT (08:03 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2015, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 17 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 08:07 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 00:00Z, 8.1 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: 1244 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 904 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 26 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.

491 
WHUS42 KMLB 310803
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
403 AM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015

...HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENT AT EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA BEACHES
TODAY...

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-010100-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0014.150531T0803Z-150601T0100Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD COUNTY-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-
COASTAL VOLUSIA COUNTY-NORTHERN BREVARD COUNTY-
403 AM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015

...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...A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS IS IN EFFECT TODAY. THE
  GREATEST SEAWARD PULL FROM RIP CURRENTS WILL OCCUR AROUND THE
  TIME OF LOW TIDE IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS...STRONG LIFE THREATENING RIP CURRENTS WILL CAUSE
  HAZARDOUS SWIMMING CONDITIONS AT EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA BEACHES
  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...BEACH PATROL FLAGS AND
SIGNS. REMEMBER TO ALWAYS SWIM NEAR A LIFEGUARD.

IF YOU BECOME CAUGHT IN A RIP CURRENT...NEVER ATTEMPT TO SWIM
DIRECTLY AGAINST IT...AS YOU WILL TIRE QUICKLY. INSTEAD...TREAD
WATER AND THEN SWIM AT AN ANGLE AWAY FROM THE CURRENT. THEN ONCE
OUT OF THE CURRENT...SWIM DIRECTLY BACK TOWARD THE BEACH.

&&

$$

VOLKMER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 3:39 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	MLB	Osceola	51 min
May 31, 4:36 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	MLB	Lake	24 min

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.