High risk of rip currents along Virginia Beach, Outer Banks
Beaches along Virginia’s and North Carolina’s coasts will be dangerous today as weather experts warn of potentially deadly rip currents.
The National Weather Service office in Morehead, North Carolina, issued a rip tide warning early Thursday morning with the highest risk of life-threatening rip currents along the Outer Banks north of Hatteras Island. There is moderate risk south of Hatteras to North Topsail Beach.
The high risk warning extends north to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, according to the NWS Wakefield office, but that office doesn’t start doing formal rip current forecasts until May, according to meteorologist Eswar Iyer.
Iyer explained that the water along the Virginia Beach coast is still in the 50s, so people are much less likely to be swimming there than they are in the Outer Banks, where a buoy near Cape Hatteras picked up a water temperature in the 70s Thursday morning.
If you are caught in a rip current, experts advise that you don’t try to swim against the current. Instead, swim parallel with the shore before heading back to dry land. If you can’t escape, you should float or tread water and call for help if needed.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com
