Rip Current, Guam
- When
- January 21, 3:00 PM SST to 3:45 PM SST
- Where
- Guam County, Ritidian Point
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
Rip Current in Guam, January 21, 2002
S. Marine on Guam in support of homeland defense.
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 3
- 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.
A U.S. Marine on Guam in support of homeland defense. During a barbecue party Cpl. Marcello D. Wilks, 23, went swimming with two other Marines (Petty Officer 3rd class Daniel Jacobsen and Sgt. Chris Geilarowski) at Sirena Beach around noon time. The three were swept away by strong currents, but two of them were able to swim back to shore. A U.S.Marine Corps C-130 cargo plane, a Navy HC-5 helicopter and Guam Fire Department Rescue 2 Unit were sent to the scene to try to find the missing man. At 3:22 pm Guam Fire department rescuers entered the water about 25 yards from shore, the mans body was recovered in 40 feet of water about 20 minutes later.
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 21, 3:46 AM SST, 11 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 3:46 AM SST, 11 hours 14 minutes before
AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 1 AM GUAM LST TUE JAN 22 2002 WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180. WEAK TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE IS PRODUCING A FEW SHOWERS BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 4N FROM 130E TO 153E...AND BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 6N FROM 166E TO 180. A COLD FRONT EXTENDS FROM 25N167E TO 23N164E AND AS A SHEAR LINE PAST GUAM TO 10N136E. EXTENSIVE CLOUDINESS AND SCATTERED SHOWERS ARE WITHIN 150 MILES OF THE COLD FRONT. LOW CLOUDS AND SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWERS ARE ALONG AND UP TO 100 MILES NORTHWEST OF THE SHEAR LINE. CLOUDINESS AND SHOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH ANOTHER COLD FRONT SOUTH OF JAPAN ARE NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM 20N130E TO 25N137E.
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, Guam | 2002-01-21 | 23 | 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
- Winter Storm in Idaho, January 21, 2002
- High Wind in Nevada, January 21, 2002
- High Wind in California, January 21, 2002
- High Wind in Nevada, January 21, 2002
- Dense Fog in Florida, January 21, 2002
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in Oregon, January 21 to 22, 2002
- Cold in California, January 21, 2002
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 21, 2002
- Winter Storm in Montana, January 21 to 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in New York, January 21 to 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in California, January 21 to 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in California, January 21, 2002
More
Every storm in Guam in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, January 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: 5279913.