Memorial Day is next week and that means the start of Alabama’s summer tourism season. Budget cuts from the new Trump administration and beach safety may seem miles apart. But concerns are being raised about how safe Alabama’s beaches may be when visitors flock to the state’s Gulf coast. The Washington Post reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is scrambling to fill forecasting job ahead of the June first start of the Hurricane season. APR explains these forecasts are also for Alabama beach goers and the lifeguards that look after them…
A visit to the beach may include things like packing sunscreen, some towels, and your favorite beach ball. But, those who specialize in safety in the water, there’s more…
“They're checking the weather to find out, am I going to be warm or cold, or am I getting wet or stay dry?” said Brucnkner Chase. He works with the National Oceananic and Atmosphere Administration. You might recognize the agency the nickname NOAA. We caught up with Chase as he was producing an instructional video on the forecasts lifeguards use to know how dangerous currents and riptides may be that day.
“There's this myth of common sense that you shouldn't necessarily always know what it's like to be hit by a wave or caught in a current, because if you've got no shared experience in that, then you wouldn't necessarily know exactly how to react,” he contended.
For the lifeguards that keep watch for the safety of beach goers along the Alabama Gulf coast, that means more than using binoculars and carrying a life preserver. These first responders depend on NOAA beach forecasts and the Trump White House is making cuts. How far and how deep the reductions will be for NOAA is unclear. But Bruckner says the agency’s beach forecasts save lives…
“If you've got a short staffed weather forecasting office, getting quicker information, getting the data analyzed and then translated to the meteorologist that you might be watching on TV at the Weather Channel or the local broadcasting channel in Alabama, that there is going to be potentially a slowdown in information getting out there,” Bruckner said.
“Your chances of drowning in front of a lifeguard are one in 18 million. So that's paramount,” said Wyatt Werneth, with the American Lifeguard Association. He’s more boots on the ground when it comes to beach safety. He says swim on Alabama shoreline where there’s a life guard. And if there’s not, you can do this…
“If you do find yourself at a beach that doesn't have a lifeguard, and that's your favorite place you've been in many years, always do a huddle with the family and have assigned a Water Watcher, assign someone to be that family lifeguard, so to speak,” he said.
“There's a lot that you need to know about tides, about wind and weather impacts on the near shore environment,” said Brucker Chase, whom we met earlier in our story.
“What does it mean if you've got a six year old playing in the waves? What does it mean if you're playing in the waves, but at the end of the day, in this complex environment. It's hard to understand if you don't live there, or if you're not an ocean lifeguard, if you don't know, don't go,” he said.