Staying Safe in Water with Dangerous Currents

GWCC_Feed | July 27, 2018 @ 9:30 am

(credit: NOAA NWS Northern Indiana)

The hot weather brought on by the summer months often results in thousands of people rushing towards the beach to cool off in the water. Although the water provides some much need relief from the hot temperatures, it also holds the potential for dangerous currents. These currents can turn a fun day at the beach into a scary one. Dangerous currents are currents that have speeds greater than 2 feet per second, with some currents having speeds faster than 8 feet per second. These currents can pull people, including strong swimmers such as Olympic swimmers, away from the shore into open water. They occur in most oceans as well as in the North American Great Lakes. It is in the Great Lakes, specifically Lake Michigan, that the greatest number of incidences involving dangerous currents happen, with over 450 current and wave-related incidences occurring in the Great Lakes since 2002.

One of the most common dangerous currents is rip currents. Rip currents are more likely to form whenever there are breaking waves along the coastline but can also develop in calm conditions due to complex coastlines and underwater topography. Rip currents generally form due to the piling up of water between the beach and a sandbar, as well as in between multiple sandbars. This trapped water must somehow move back towards the open water. The piled-up water results in a build-up of pressure that eventually creates breaks in the sandbars. The breaks allow the trapped water funnel towards the open water, resulting in the channeling of water in narrow streams at high speeds away from the shore.

Though dangerous and fast, rip currents can be identified and avoided. There are also ways to stay safe if you are ever caught in one. First, know where rip currents are likely to occur. As stated, they most often develop where sandbars are present. However, they can also occur where shore structures, like piers, are present and were water outlets, like a river mouth, are located. To help protect yourself and others, it is best to never swim near these. Rip currents can be visually identified in two different ways, which are pictured above. Either by sandy water and debris traveling away from the shore or by breaks or gaps in the waves as the waves move towards the shore. If you are caught in a rip current the best thing to do is to not swim against the current. Instead stay calm and “Flip, Float, and Follow!” This means you should flip onto your back and float to save energy. Once the current has weakened, swim to the side of the current, following the shoreline. Once out of the rip current, turn back towards the shore and swim back to safety.

Additional ways to stay safe is to the check forecasts for dangerous waves and currents, which can be found at https://www.weather.gov/greatlakes/beachhazards and to follow the safety tips found at http://greatlakeswatersafety.org/tips/.

Credit: NOAA NWS and Michigan Sea Grant

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