American Lifeguard Association's Wyatt Werneth joins the AccuWeather Network to explain the beach flag system and what each colored flag means. He also explains the dangers of rip currents.

The beach flag safety system uses colored flags—green, yellow, red, double red, and blue—to indicate water hazards, with green representing low risk and double red signaling that swimming is prohibited. Blue flags warn of marine life such as sharks. Swimmers are advised to check weather conditions, swim near lifeguards, and assign a designated water watcher, especially for children and weak swimmers.

Rip currents can form in areas where there are dips in the shoreline and are often present near jetties or inlets. If caught in a rip current, swimmers should remain calm, signal for help, and swim parallel to the shore to escape. The importance of adhering to posted warnings and understanding personal swimming limitations is emphasized to prevent drowning incidents.

Understanding beach flags; Staying safe from rip currents

For those who may not be familiar, what is the beach flag safety system and how should visitors use it before entering the water? Good morning, Bernie and Ariella. It's a fine acky weather day out here. That's a great question. It's much like a traffic signal. We kind of mirrored that with a red, yellow and green. It is green means it's a low hazard, yellow means use caution, red is a higher hazard and a double red means don't go at all. And then if you have a blue flag, we add marine life like sharks and stuff like that. Absolutely, all right. So what are the biggest mistakes you see beach goers make when it comes to water safety? Well, it's important to go down a checklist. The first one we put out there is learn to swim, America. Your ability to swim can save your life. The next one is know before you go. Check the internet, check the accurate weather for the weather, find out where there's lifeguards at, swim in front of a lifeguard, your chances of drowning in front of a lifeguard are one in 18 million. And then when you get to the beach, you can use identifiers. Everywhere there's a dip, there's a rip. And in that, if you do just get caught in a rip current, remember the rip. Rip means relax, indicate that you need help and someone on the beach might have a station like we have behind us, the Drown Zero Station. It's flotation, they can get out to you and feet try to swim parallel. So it's very important to kind of go down that checklist as well as assign a water watch to look out for the people who may not swim in your group. And how can swimmers and surfers spot dangerous surf or changing conditions before lifeguards post new flags? And how deep can you go into the water and still be safe from rip currents? Well, part one of that, like I said, you can kind of check the area by the, everywhere there's a dip, there's a rip. You've been in a location where you're sitting there and your stuff gets wet and the people on both sides of you are dry, you're in the rip, don't go in. The next part of that is know your limitations. If it looks threatening, when in doubt, don't go out, just sit back and enjoy the beauty. So we say stay out of the water depending on your swimming ability and don't push your limits. What steps can families take to keep children safe when waves are stronger than usual? Well, that goes back to the assign a water watcher and put people or anyone, adults or children that don't swim very well, put them in a Coast Guard approved life jacket. But the water watcher is critical. The water watcher is someone in your group that's kind of like a group lifeguard and you can even give them a whistle or a tag. And if it's a large group, you guys assign multiple people with no distractions and you can take turns. So it's paramount to keep your eye on the little ones or those who don't swim. All right. And one last question, I know you mentioned this again, but could you explain how can, explain how rip currents can form? How do they form? You already explained how to escape them, but how do they form? Well, you know, that takes years and years to understand completely, but there are different kinds of currents. There's permanent rips by jetties and inlets. There's transient rips that we get a lot as the bottoms change and the winds and the waves react. But what the most important thing to remember is it's just a current that's pulling away from the shoreline. It does not take you under. I've been getting a lot of that lately. It does not take you under. And again, if you're in that rip, you can not, if you don't panic, you're just getting a little ride. And if you know how to swim very well and apply some of the checklists that I mentioned, you know, the most important thing is, you know, adhere to any of the warnings. We have been doing a wonderful job here in America with your outlet, the media, trying to tell people that there are rip currents, that they're coming because they are predictable and drowning is preventable as well. Well, we're a spokesperson for the American Lifeguard Association. We always appreciate your expertise and the beautiful blue sky you're bringing us there in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and what you're doing to keep everyone safe. Always swim in your lifeguard. Yes. Always. By the way, it is official. Hurricane Center has sent out the update a little early. Aaron is now the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season. All right.

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