The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment have declared Wednesday as a Clean Air Action Day for Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Livingston, Mason, Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa, St Joseph, and Van Buren counties. This means that you should avoid activities which lead to ozone formation. Such activities are refueling vehicles or topping off when refueling, using gasoline powered lawn equipment, and using charcoal lighter fluid. Positive activities include car pooling, biking to work, delaying or combining errands and using water based paints. It is recommended that active people, and people with respiratory diseases (for example, asthma) limit prolonged times outside. There is also a Heat Advisory until midnight Wednesday Night for Berrien, Branch, Cass, Hillsdale, Livingston, Midland, Shiawassee, and St Joseph counties. Highs on Wednesday will be in the low to mid-90s, with heat indices (how hot it feels) in the upper-90s to near 100 degrees. With dewpoints and low temperatures in the low to mid-70s, it will feel very hot and humid.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Rip Current Safety

This is rip current awareness week, so here's some info for you from NOAA on how you can stay safe.

Here's a real-life story on rip currents from the director of the southern region of the National Weather Service- 
"Hi. My name is Bill Proenza and I am the Director for the Southern Region of the National Weather Service. My experience with rip currents is first hand. At the age of 11, I was swimming off the Florida Coast, near Key Biscayne, and found myself carried into deep water. I tried to swim toward shore but to no avail. After being pulled under the water once, I called for help. Fortunately, an experienced swimmer pulled me to safety. Following this event, I took lessons through the Red Cross swimming program. While the program helped me improve my swimming ability, it did not offer much insight on handling what we called "undertows" (rip currents). Nevertheless, the training did pay off two years later, when I had the chance to save a man who was trapped in a rip current, again off Florida's east coast. I noticed him struggling in the water and crying out for help. I swam behind him and managed to push him at an angle toward the shore. He told me he couldn't swim but found himself drawn into deeper and deeper water. It is my hope that you take these safety rules and the dangers of rip currents to heart. If you do so, your trips to the coast should be pleasant, enjoyable and safe for you, your family and friends."

For tons of more stories, check this out- http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/real_life.shtml


On the left is a look at what beach warning flags mean. Safety tips and more available at http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/tips.shtml

~ Forecaster Ben Kouch
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