Rip Current, San Diego
- When
- March 1, 4:30 PM PST
- Where
- San Diego County, Ocean Beach
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Rip Current in California, March 1, 2001
1 rip current, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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
- 1
- 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 forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 1, 2:30 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 1, 2:30 PM PST, 2 hours before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
230 PM PST THU MAR 1 2001
...SYNOPSIS...
HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE WEST WILL BRING DRY WEATHER FRIDAY.
THEN THE NEXT IN A SERIES OF STORMS OVER THE PACIFIC WILL APPROACH
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SATURDAY. RAIN IS EXPECTED TO ARRIVE LATE
SATURDAY OR EARLY SUNDAY...WITH PERIODS OF RAIN CONTINUING INTO THE
MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. MORE HEAVY SNOW IS LIKELY IN THE MOUNTAINS.
...DISCUSSION...
A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE WEST HAS DRIED THE MID
AND UPPER TROPOSPHERE THIS AFTERNOON. LOW LAYERS STILL MOIST...BUT
BEGINNING TO DRY OUT AND SKIES WILL TURN CLEAR IN MOST AREAS THIS
EVENING. FRIDAY WILL BE DRY AND MILD WITH GENERALLY CLEAR SKIES
EXCEPT FOR SOME HIGH CLOUDS SPREADING SOUTH IN ADVANCE OF A
SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS CENTRAL CA. MOST OF THE ENERGY FROM THIS
FIRST SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE EAST INTO NEVADA. HOWEVER...THE TAIL END
OF THE SYSTEM WILL INCREASE THE MID LEVEL MOISTURE ACROSS SOCAL.
ALL EYES TURN TO THE WEST IN ANTICIPATION OF THE SECOND SHORTWAVE
THAT WILL DIG FARTHER SOUTH AND MAKE LANDFALL OVER SOCAL SATURDAY
NIGHT AND SUNDAY. THIS IS ANOTHER MOISTURE LADEN SYSTEM. THE LONG
FETCH FROM OVER THE PACIFIC WILL PROVIDE ABUNDANT MOISTURE FROM THE
SFC-400 MB...AND STRONG DYNAMICS AND A STRONG LOW LEVEL JET WILL
PROVIDE AMPLE LIFT TO BRING ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT RAIN EVENT. THE
TIMING OF THIS EVENT IS STILL IN QUESTION...BUT IT APPEARS THAT THE
RAIN WILL BEGIN EITHER SATURDAY AFTERNOON OR EVENING IN THE APPLE
VALLEY/SBD COUNTY MTNS...THEN SPREAD SOUTH OVERNIGHT. WARM
SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM (500 MB TEMPS WILL BE AROUND
-22C) THE SNOW LEVELS WILL INITIALLY BE QUITE HIGH ON SUNDAY...6000
FEET OR ABOVE. SNOW LEVELS WILL THEN FALL SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY AS
COLDER AIR ADVECTS INTO GTHE REGION WITH 500 MB TEMPS FALLING TO -27C
BY 00Z TUESDAY.
SAN 000
.SAN...NONE.
MOEDEThe radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rip Current, San Diego | 2001-03-01 | 49 | Male | In Water | Direct |
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
- Ice Storm in Kansas, March 1, 2001
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Mississippi, March 1 to 3, 2001
- Heavy Rain in Georgia, March 1 to 31, 2001
- Flash Flooding in Louisiana, March 1 to 3, 2001
- Dense Fog in Arizona, March 1, 2001
- Heavy Snow in New York, March 1, 2001
- Cold in West Virginia, March 1 to 31, 2001
- Drought in North Carolina, March 1 to 31, 2001
- Drought in South Carolina, March 1 to 31, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Mississippi, March 1, 2001
- Drought in Texas, March 1 to 31, 2001
- Drought in Georgia, March 1 to 31, 2001
More
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 2001
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: 5234819.