Alert archive / Florida / Rip Current Statements in 2017

Rip Current Statement 9, NWS Melbourne, FL

March 21, 2017Volusia County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this rip current statement at Mar 21, 2017, 10:14 AM EDT for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 10 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 21, 2017, 10:14 AM EDT (14:14 UTC)
Expired: Mar 21, 2017, 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 14:19 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, 2.2 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: 1473 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

973 
WHUS42 KMLB 211414
CFWMLB

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1014 AM EDT TUE MAR 21 2017

...A BUILDING NORTHEAST SWELL WILL PRODUCE A HIGH RIP CURRENT 
RISK TODAY...

FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-220000-
/O.NEW.KMLB.RP.S.0009.170321T1414Z-170322T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD COUNTY-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-
COASTAL VOLUSIA COUNTY-NORTHERN BREVARD COUNTY-
1014 AM EDT TUE MAR 21 2017

...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...THROUGH SUNSET, WITH THE RISK PARTICULARLY ENHANCED
  THROUGH AROUND 12 NOON, AND AGAIN BETWEEN 6 PM AND SUNSET.

* IMPACTS...A 3 TO 4 FOOT OCEAN SWELL IN THE SURF ZONE WILL
  PRODUCE NUMEROUS STRONG RIP CURRENTS TODAY. LOCAL BEACH PATROLS
  REPORTED MORE THAN A DOZEN RIP CURRENT RELATED RESCUES MONDAY.

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...BEACH PATROL FLAGS AND
SIGNS.

SWIM NEAR A LIFEGUARD. IF CAUGHT IN A RIP CURRENT REMAIN CALM.
DON'T FIGHT THE CURRENT. SWIM IN A DIRECTION FOLLOWING THE
SHORELINE. IF UNABLE TO ESCAPE...FACE THE SHORE AND CALL OR WAVE
FOR HELP. IF TIRED, FLOAT OR TREAD WATER UNTIL OUT OF THE RIP
CURRENT.

&&

$$

Nearby

Rip Current Statements in Florida, 2017 Every rip current statement in 2017

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.