Rip Current in Guam, January 16, 2001

Name: Rip Current in Guam, January 16, 2001
Start: 2001-01-16T13:00
End: 2001-01-16T16:00
Location: Guam

January 16, 2001 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Heather McDonald, a 31 year old tourist form Thailand, was snorkeling with her husband in Tumon Bay. She continued to snorkel alone after her husband went back to the beach.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
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 GUA wrote it up.

Heather McDonald, a 31 year old tourist form Thailand, was snorkeling with her husband in Tumon Bay. She continued to snorkel alone after her husband went back to the beach. Strong currents swept her over the reef. The women was found drifting in rough water twohours later by five men aboard a charter boat. A scream for help caught the attention of Mike Rendall, captain of the Ten III, and his four passengers as they were making there way back to the Hagatna boat basin from Tanguission Beach. McDonald grabbed a rope thrown from the boat, and Koburi Massashi and his three friends from Japan pulled the woman aboard the 38 foot vessel. McDonald had difficulty breathing and could hardly speak as she was exhausted after the ordeal. After calling the U.S. Coast Guard at 1520, Rendall rushed his boat to the Hagatna boat basin, arriving 10 minutes after the rescue. McDonald suffered cuts to her legs and feet.

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 GUA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 16, 4:14 AM SST, 8 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 16, 4:14 AM SST, 8 hours 46 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST WED JAN 17 2001

WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180.

A SHEAR LINE EXTENDS FROM 25N180E SOUTHWESTWARD THROUGH THE CENTRAL
MARIANA ISLANDS TO 12N130E.  OVERCAST SKIES WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND GUSTY WINDS ARE LOCATED ALONG AND UP TO 200 MILES NORTH OF THE
SHEAR LINE.

TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE IS PRODUCING AREAS OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS FROM PALAU EASTWARD THROUGH CHUUK..POHNPEI
..KOSRAE AND THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.  THIS ACTIVITY EXTENDS FROM 130E
TO THE DATELINE BETWEEN 10N AND THE EQUATOR.

FRESH TO STRONG BREEZES LOCATED BETWEEN 10N AND 20N FROM JUST EAST
OF THE MARIANA ISLANDS TO THE DATE LINE ARE RESULTING IN WIDELY
SCATTERED GUSTY SHOWERS.

ELSEWHERE...PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND ISOLATED SHOWERS PREVAIL.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Guam

When: January 16, 1:00 PM SST to 4:00 PM SST
Where: Guam County, Apra Harbor
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

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

Every storm in Guam in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, January 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: 5227619.