Rip Currents and Sharks Await Louisiana Beach Goers This Weekend

A lot of Louisiana families will be packing up their cars and heading for the beaches of Lower Alabama and the Florida Panhandle this weekend. That will be a great treat for a Louisiana mom lucky enough to enjoy some sun and sand time with her family this Mother's Day weekend. 

However, it won't all be fun and games if you choose to wade into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico over the next few days. In addition to some very serious rip current concerns, there could be an appearance by a Great White Shark close to some of the popular sun and surf locations along the Redneck Riviera.

Of the two "concerns" Lousiana beachgoers should be more concerned with the rip currents than the sharks but we're going to show you both so you can decide what is best for you and your family.

The National Weather Service Office in Mobile, Alabama says the risk of rip currents from Mississippi through lower Alabama and into the Florida Panhandle will be significant for the weekend. The current forecast calls for a high risk of rip currents through at least Friday. But beach conditions should improve as the weekend progresses.

You've no doubt seen stories from early this spring about a Great White Shark in the Gulf of Mexico. We now have video evidence of that shark. It was spotted by researchers near the Alabama artificial reef. This artificial reef is well away from the sandy beaches of Lower Alabama but we figured you'd want to know if there was a shark anywhere close by where you were going to swim.

The shark was given the name Miss Pawla by researchers and is an 8-foot juvenile Great White. They estimate the creature's age to be about 15 years. The good news on Miss Pawla is that she has not been officially detected in the coastal waters of Alabama or Florida in over a week.

What made this sighting of a Great White so significant to researchers is the  fact that this was the first documented sighting of that species in the vicinity of the Alabama artificial reef. Perhaps you'll want to consider that information should you choose to do some scuba diving or snorkeling in that area of the Gulf.