The first, obviously, is to listen to the lifeguards or weather forecasts when they tell you not to go in the water because the risk for rip currents is too high. There are several ways you can identify the risk for rip currents before you get in the water. These dangerous currents are most common when it's windy, but hurricanes that are hundreds (if not thousands of miles) away can kick up waves that create dangerous rip currents even when the weather is calm and sunny on the beach. A strong offshore current will develop when two longshore currents collide with each other, and water in these colliding currents will rush back out to sea as a rip current. Some water flows back to sea underneath the waves, but a good bit of it will start traveling parallel to the beach in a " longshore current." When waves crash along the beach at an angle, the longshore current flows in the same direction, but when they break perpendicular to the shore, it creates a longshore current that goes both left and right of the wave. It's when the waves crash perpendicular to the beach that we start running into problems.Īs shown above in one of The Vane's famous poorly-drawn diagrams, a horizontal circulation forms in the water when waves crash perpendicular to the shore. Larger waves can knock you over and create a bigger tug back out to sea, but it's easy for most people to overcome the normal push and pull of the water. On a normal day, waves crash against the shore at an angle, allowing water to come in and flow back out with little more than a tug at your feet. Fortunately, meteorologists can predict conditions favorable to the formation of rip currents, and swimmers almost always have ample warning that rip currents are possible or occurring. Swimmers who are caught in rip currents can get sucked away from safety at speeds of nearly ten feet per second-far too fast for you to try swimming back to the beach. Between 20, nearly 50 people drowned every year as a result of rip currents-over the same period, that's more than the average number of people who die from lightning strikes! If all but a few dozen of us can get along fine without getting electrocuted by the sky, people should have no issue keeping themselves safe from getting kidnapped by Poseidon.Ī rip current is a strong jet of water that quickly flows away from shore. Nobody should die in a rip current, especially not in an age where we're constantly online and the National Weather Service (and every local news station and reputable weather outlet) advertises days where there's an elevated risk for rip currents. On the other hand, some deaths occur as a direct result of someone's actions, like a missed rung on the ladder, failing to look both ways before turning left, or showing your friends that cool trick you can do with your new pistol.ĭying in a rip current is one of those deaths that is completely avoidable. Sure, some cases of cancer or fatal heart issues can be prevented with long-term changes in behavior, but there's rarely a specific cigarette or steak that sealed your fate. Most people die from things that are beyond their direct control, such as cancer or heart attacks. Aside from sunburns and jellyfish, one of the most dangerous things you have to look out for is a silent, sloshing killer: rip currents. While a trip to the ocean can be packed with fun, it can also be dangerous. Beaches are a relaxing place to spend a family trip or just enjoy a raging, booze-fueled spring break.
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