Name: Rip Current in Alabama, September 1, 2002
Start: 2002-09-01T14:00
End: 2002-09-01T14:10
Location: Alabama

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 1, 1:48 PM CST, 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 1, 1:48 PM CST, 12 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
248 PM CDT SUN SEP 01 2002

WV SATELLITE LOOP SHOWS THE H5 WEAKNESS NOW ORIENTED MORE EAST-WEST
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA...BETWIXT THE INVERTED TROF OVER THE
WESTERN GULF AND THE MID LEVEL SHORTWAVE SYSTEM NEAR THE EAST
COAST.  MUCH LESS CONVECTION HAS FORMED OVER THE AREA TODAY...DUE TO
THE MORE STABLE CONDITIONS.  SIMILARLY BENIGN CONDITIONS WILL
PERSIST TOMORROW AS THE TWO FEATURES ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEAKNESS
ALOFT MOVE FURTHER APART.  SOME LOW STRATUS WILL FORM AGAIN
TONIGHT...BUT WITH THE WEAKER NORTHEAST DRAINAGE FLOW...DEVELOPMENT
WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL LATE TONIGHT.  TROPICAL DEPRESSION 5 OVER THE
BAHAMAS IS A BIT OF A WILD CARD FOR THE FORECAST AREA GIVEN ITS
EXPECTED WEST-NORTHWEST MOVEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM.  IT IS
POSSIBLE THAT THIS FEATURE MAY DO MORE THAN JUST ENHANCE THE LOW
LEVEL RIDGING OVER THE AREA...SUCH AS SEND NORTHEAST WINDS INTO THE
FORECAST AREA...SEE AVN/CANADIAN...WHICH WOULD RESULT IN MUCH DRIER
CONDITIONS THAN IF SOUTHERLY WINDS ARE ALLOWED TO DEVELOP AS
SUGGESTED BY THE ETA.  ALSO...THE DEEP CLOSED LOW MOVING ACROSS
QUEBEC AND ONTARIO TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY IS STILL BRINGING A RATHER
WEAK TRAILING FRONT POSSIBLY DOWN TO NORTHERN MS/AL BY WEDNESDAY.
IF WHATEVERS LEFT OF TD5 DOES NOT MOVE FAR ENOUGH TO THE
NORTH...THE BLOCKING LOW LEVEL RIDGING BUILDING INTO THE EASTERN
STATES MAY INDEED MANAGE TO KEEP THIS FEATURE ON A MORE WESTWARD
TRACK.  GIVEN THESE UNCERTAINTIES...DO NOT PLAN ANY MAJOR CHANGES TO
THE CURRENT PACKAGE UNTIL THIS PLAYS OUT FURTHER.

MARINE...WILL GENERALLY STAY WITH CURRENT PACKAGE GIVEN SAME
UNCERTAINTIES AS DISCUSSED ABOVE...EXCEPT TO GO WITH A MORE
SOUTHEAST COMPONENT EARLY IN THE WEEK.

FIRE...NO CONCERNS.

PRELIMINARY CCF...
MOB BB 072/088 072/089 073 29242
PNS BB 073/088 073/089 074 29242
DTS BB 075/087 075/089 076 29242
GZH BB 069/088 070/091 070 29132
2RO BB 069/089 070/091 069 29131
61A BB 069/089 070/091 071 29131

.MOB...
AL...NONE.
FL...NONE.
MS...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Baldwin

When: September 1, 2:00 PM CST to 2:10 PM CST
Where: Baldwin County, Ft Morgan
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 30.661, -87.750 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A twenty-six year old female was swimming with her daughter in rough water near Gulf Shores Plantation. They were visiting the area from out of state. The pair got caught in a strong rip current and were swept 600 yards west of where they went into the water. The daughter was rescued but the mother drowned in the rough water.

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, Baldwin	2002-09-01	26	Female	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

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, September 2002

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: 5321173.