Rip Current, San Diego
- When
- May 19, 7:00 AM PST to 3:50 PM PST
- Where
- San Diego County, City Beaches
- Coordinates
- 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Rip Current in California, May 19, 1996
Lifegaurds were kept busy with rip currents and high surf this Sunday, even though the water temperature dropped to 59 degrees. 95 rescues were made with 42 San Diego city lifegaurds on duty.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
Lifegaurds were kept busy with rip currents and high surf this Sunday, even though the water temperature dropped to 59 degrees. 95 rescues were made with 42 San Diego city lifegaurds on duty. For the most part, rip currents were to blame for the needed rescues.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Rip Current
- A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Pennsylvania, May 19 to 21, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, May 19, 1996
- Hail in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Minnesota, May 19, 1996
More
Every storm in California in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5576430.