High Surf, Coastal Bay
- When
- May 19, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Coastal Bay forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- Broadcast Media
- Coordinates
- 30.238, -85.633 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Surf in Florida, May 19, 2018
A 5 year old boy from Alabama died after getting caught up in rough surf at Panama City Beach during the evening of May 19th. Panama City Beach fire rescue crews and a bystander performed CPR on the boy, but he died a short time later at a hospital.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS TAE wrote it up.
A 5 year old boy from Alabama died after getting caught up in rough surf at Panama City Beach during the evening of May 19th. Panama City Beach fire rescue crews and a bystander performed CPR on the boy, but he died a short time later at a hospital. Single red flags were flying.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 19, 2:23 PM EST, 3 hours 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 19, 2:23 PM EST, 3 hours 37 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tallahassee FL 323 PM EDT Sat May 19 2018 .NEAR TERM [Through Tonight]... Local observations show temperatures have already soared into the upper 80s-near 90 this afternoon. This warm, unstable air over land will allow a seabreeze to develop within the next few hours and scattered showers and thunderstorms to pop up along/ahead of it. The deepest moisture on tap is over the eastern FL Big Bend and in south central GA, although there is more instability available to the west in southeast AL. Storms will dissipate around sunset and temperatures will gradually cool to low 70s overnight. Patchy fog will be possible in the FL Panhandle in the early morning hours. .SHORT TERM [Sunday Through Monday Night]... A plume of deep tropical moisture is expected to advect into the area from the southeast on Sunday and Monday in association with a weak upper level vort max. Precipitable water values are expected to rise to near 2 inches with a high coverage of showers and a few thunderstorms both days. Localized pockets of heavy rainfall are expected to be the main threat given the tropical airmass. High temperatures are expected to be a bit below average given the cloud cover and convection, and low temperatures are expected to be a bit above average given the tropical airmass with high dewpoints. .LONG TERM [Tuesday Through Saturday]... Deep moisture is expected to remain in place through the week. Forcing for convection is expected to come from a mixture of the seabreeze circulation, boundaries from convection in the Gulf moving inland, and the potential for some sort of surface low/trough developing and moving north through the Gulf. PoPs are expected to mostly range from 40-60% each day, which is a bit more typical of June than the middle of May. The airmass expected to be in place is also more typical of June. We'll continue to watch the models flip and flop around with the potential area of low pressure in the Gulf late in the period. && .AVIATION... [Through 18z Sunday] Isolated showers and thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon, with the highest chances near VLD. MVFR- IFR cigs and vsbys will develop between 06-12Z at most of the TAF sites. VLD and ECP may potentially lower to LIFR around sunrise. By 15Z, all TAF sites are expected to return to VFR and scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms will begin to pop up. && .MARINE... Winds and seas are forecast to generally remain below 15 knots over the next several days, although scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected through the period with locally higher winds and seas possible. There is some potential for an area of low pressure to develop in the Gulf late in the week with higher winds and seas, but that forecast is uncertain at this time. && .FIRE WEATHER... No fire weather concerns through the next several days. Winds will be light and minimum relative humidity values along with rain chances will be high. && .HYDROLOGY... Overall, a wet pattern is expected through next week with average 7 day rainfall amounts of 2-5" across the area. Localized higher amounts could occur. Isolated instances of flooding in urban and poor drainage areas could occur if locally heavier amounts fall in a flood prone location over a short amount of time. However, river levels remain on the low side, so river flooding is not expected unless large scale forecast rainfall totals increase or locally heavier totals fall over one of the smaller basins. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not requested. However, spotters are always encouraged to safely report significant weather conditions when they occur by calling the office or tweeting us @NWSTallahassee. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Tallahassee 71 82 70 81 70 / 20 70 60 70 40 Panama City 73 83 72 80 72 / 10 70 50 70 40 Dothan 71 86 69 80 68 / 20 60 50 70 50 Albany 71 84 69 81 69 / 20 60 60 70 50 Valdosta 69 80 70 81 69 / 20 80 60 70 40 Cross City 69 78 70 82 69 / 30 80 60 70 40 Apalachicola 72 80 72 79 73 / 10 50 60 60 40 && .TAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. GA...None. AL...None. GM...None. && NEAR TERM...Nguyen SHORT TERM...DVD LONG TERM...DVD AVIATION...Nguyen MARINE...DVD FIRE WEATHER...Barry HYDROLOGY...DVD
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Surf, Coastal Bay | 2018-05-19 | 5 | Male | In Water | Direct |
What these are
- High Surf
- Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, May 19 to 20, 2018
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 19, 2018
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Missouri, May 19 to 21, 2018
- Tornado and Hail in Oklahoma, May 19, 2018
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, May 19 to 20, 2018
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Missouri, May 19, 2018
- Flood and Hail in Missouri, May 19 to 20, 2018
- Flash Flooding and Debris Flow in Virginia, May 19 to 20, 2018
- Tornado in Virginia, May 19, 2018
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, May 19 to 20, 2018
- Flooding in Virginia, May 19 to 20, 2018
- Flooding in North Carolina, May 19, 2018
More
Every storm in Florida in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, May 2018
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 751955.