Hurricane Lee: What's ahead for Ocean City, plus advice from the resort's lifeguard chief
Hurricane Lee remains well off the coast of the Florida with current models having it cause weather systems in the Delmarva Peninsula region Thursday or Friday.
But severe weather preparedness continues, and Ocean City's lifeguard chief warns of possible dangerous rip currents and shore breaks.
According to the National Weather Service, it is still too soon to predict specific impacts of Hurricane Lee in the region in terms of the types of swells and possible inches of flooding in low-lying areas. According to the Hazardous Weather Outlook issued Monday morning for southeast Maryland, northeast North Carolina, eastern Virginia and southeast Virginia, only moderate rip current risks are in effect through Monday evening.
The seven-day forecast for Ocean City currently only includes "a chance of showers and thunderstorms and partly cloudy, with a low around 71 degrees. South wind will blow around nine miles per hour. The chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts are possible in thunderstorms for Tuesday evening."
Wednesday escalates a chance of showers and thunderstorms, with showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2 p.m. It will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 76 degrees and southwest wind seven to nine mph. The 60% chance of precipitation remains all day with new rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Showers are likely with a possible thunderstorm before 8 p.m. and continuing through 2 a.m. It will remain mostly cloudy, with a low around of 64 degrees. New precipitation amounts will be between a tenth and quarter of an inch, with higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
The rest of the week currently remains warm and clear.
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Monitoring Ocean City riptides
Butch Arbin, captain of the Ocean City Beach Patrol, noted Friday at around 8 a.m. is when Lee's winds are off the coast of the resort locale.
"It's going to be way offshore, but what we expect from any hurricane or tropical depression is that it pushes a great deal of water ahead of it. That is dangerous shore break, and it can actually pick swimmers up thrown them down causing impact injuries to extremities. When that water goes back out, that's the rip current," Arbin said,
The illusion of great weather when those systems leave the area is when ocean conditions possibly become more dangerous.
Arbin explained issues like rip tides continue and contributed to 400 rescues during Labor Day weekend. According to Arbin, the weekend that follows Lee clearing out of the region will have lifeguards on high alert.
"We're looking at the same type of scenario. As the storm approaches and bad conditions occur, people stay away. But when they come back, that's when they get the dangerous surf conditions and high hazardous rip currents. The National Hurricane Center has us getting five to 10 mile-per-hour winds, and that's hundreds of miles offshore," Arbin said.
Waves four feet or higher, Arbin noted, are a sign of dangerous weather conditions.
With the hurricane still far off, Ocean City has yet to start their safety procedures during severe storm systems. Yet they include removing unnecessary vehicles like beach patrol wave runners from docking areas. They also remove any lifeguard stands not in use to remove any flying debris.
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Staying prepared during hurricane season
Robin Gould, instructor and program director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at University of Maryland Eastern Shore, knows that staying stocked in essentials now means being prepared for major hurricanes later.
"In preparation for an emergency due to weather, stock up on foods that don't require refrigeration and non-perishable items. In the case of a power outage, remember, if you have a grill or camping grill, you can use these for cooking," Gould said.
"FEMA recommends stocking a three-day supply of non-perishable food, water and a manual can opener. The average sized adult female needs approximately 1800 calories daily and the average sized adult male needs approximately 2400 calories daily," Gould said.
Healthy non-perishable items that would be good to have on hand for storm prep include canned fish and poultry, canned beans, canned vegetables and fruit, canned soup, nuts and seeds, nut butter such as almond or peanut, dried fruit, low-sugar, high fiber cereals and granola, granola and protein bars, boxed milk, jerky, and bottled water.
Gould explained calorie needs for children vary greatly depending on age. In an emergency, the recommended amount is feeding the child 3 meals daily plus snacks or when they are hungry and make sure to keep them well hydrated.
Follow along with Lee's path live
Follow along with the path of Hurricane Lee here.
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This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Hurricane Lee could impact Ocean City, region, with rip currents, more
