Northeast Florida Beaches: Rip Currents, 6-to-8-Foot Surf and Minor Coastal Flooding Through the Weekend

Halloween weekend at the Beaches comes with a warning to stay cautious in and near the water. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville issued a combined coastal statement at 2:34 a.m. EDT Saturday covering the Northeast Florida beaches: a high rip current risk through Sunday evening, a Coastal Flood Advisory for minor coastal flooding until 5 a.m. Sunday, and a High Surf Advisory for large breaking waves of 6 to 8 feet from 5 p.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. Sunday. Weather.com's Jacksonville listing, read this cycle, also carries a Small Craft Advisory from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening.

The Weather Service says the flooding impact is expected to be limited — flooding of lots, parks and roads with only isolated road closures expected — alongside dangerous swimming and surfing conditions and localized beach erosion. Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water, the statement warns. The station's own live feed (Open-Meteo, read this cycle) put Jacksonville at 77.7 degrees under partly cloudy skies late Saturday morning, with a Saturday high near 80 and a 14 percent precipitation chance — a mild Halloween on land, with the hazard concentrated at the coast.

The Weather Service advises inexperienced swimmers to remain out of the water, and anyone who goes in to swim near a lifeguard. If caught in a rip current, relax and float, do not swim against the current, swim along the shoreline if able, and if unable to escape, face the shore and call or wave for help. Drivers are told to allow extra time where roads may be closed, never to drive around barricades or through water of unknown depth, and to protect flood-prone property.