West Palm Beach, Florida

... Strong rip currents and hazardous surf Atlantic beaches today...

Northeast swells over the near shore Atlantic waters will generate
strong and dangerous rip currents today along the Atlantic beaches
of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. For this reason,
swimming is not advised. The threat of rip currents will be particularly
high during the outgoing tide from mid morning through midday.

Northeast swells of 4 to 5 feet are expected over the Palm Beach
County near shore waters, with swells of 2 to 4 feet over the
Broward and Miami-Dade waters. These swells will produce breakers
of up to 8 feet at the Palm Beach County beaches and up to 6 feet
at the Broward and Miami-Dade beaches, leading to rough and
hazardous surf.

Tidal departures associated with the upcoming new moon are likely
to reach one and a half to near 2 feet above normal, especially
along the Palm Beach County coast. As a result, some beach erosion
and minor coastal flooding may occur at times of hide tide near
sunrise and again shortly after sunset, especially in sections of
central and northern Palm Beach County exposed to the largest
swells.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A rip current is a 10 to 30 yard wide channel of water that can
pull even a strong swimmer from near or inside The Sand Bar into
deeper water. Due to the life threatening dangers that these
strong currents of water pose... swimming is not advised.

If you do go into the waters... swim at guarded beaches and heed
the advice of the beach patrol. If caught in the seaward pull of a
rip current do not attempt to move directly toward shore.
Instead... move sideways across the rip current until the pull
eases.

An alternate method of escape is to let the rip current pull you
seaward 50 to 100 yards... where the force weakens... and then swim
toward the beach at an angle away from the current.