Rip Currents in New York, August 10, 2002

Name: Rip Currents in New York, August 10, 2002
Start: 2002-08-10T14:00
End: 2002-08-10T17:15
Location: New York

August 10, 2002 · NWS OKX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A large high pressure system covered the area. The surface ridge axis extended northeast off the Mid Atlantic Coast, south of the coastal waters.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: 3
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 OKX wrote it up.

A large high pressure system covered the area. The surface ridge axis extended northeast off the Mid Atlantic Coast, south of the coastal waters. An extratropical system (former Tropical Storm Cristobal) was southeast of the offshore waters over the high seas.Southeast swells with a period from 8 to 10 seconds arrived across the east end of Long Island during Friday morning, August 9th and moved west across the south shore of Long Island Friday afternoon. Southwest winds circulating around the high were enhanced by developing sea breezes Saturday afternoon, August 10th. Wind speeds increased to 15 to 20 knots, which resulted in southwest wind waves. Significant wave heights built to 3 to 4 feet.The combination of these events led to the development of rip currents across the east end and south shores of Long Island and Queens.Three people died:An 18 year old male drowned around 3:00 pm EDT in Montauk, off the Atlantic Ocean Beach.A 17 year old male drowned around 5:45 pm EDT about 2 miles east of the East Moriches Inlet. "He was knocked over by a wave and sucked under the surf." The location was Cupsogue Beach on Dune Road.A 69 year old male drowned around 6:15 pm EDT in Rockaway Inlet.

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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 10, 9:20 AM EST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 10, 9:20 AM EST, 4 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
1020 AM EDT SAT AUG 10 2002

CURRENT FCST ON TRACK...VERY MINOR UPDATE COMING AT 1030 AM. 06Z
GDAS (GFS INITIALIZATION) HAS MOISTURE FIELD BETTER INITIALIZED THAN
THE 06Z EDAS (ETA INITIALIZATION). EDAS HAS BOGUS BULL-EYE NEAR BUOY
44008 (SE OF LONG ISLAND). LOWER LAYERS TOO DRY FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT
CUMULUS DEVELOPMENT. THUS GOING WITH A SUNNY AFTERNOON.

WEST WINDS BECOME SW AND WILL ALLOW FOR ANOTHER PERFECT SUMMER
AFTERNOON. DEW POINTS TO HOLD IN THE MID TO UPPER 50S TODAY...EXCEPT
LOWER 60S WHERE FLOW COMES IN OFF THE OCEAN.

TEMPS...11Z LAMP AND 06Z MAV GUIDANCE INDICATES CURRENT FORECAST
TEMPS

HYDRO...ALREADY STARTING TO GO BELOW NORMAL FOR AUG WITH CENTRAL
PARK A 1/2 INCH BELOW NORMAL FOR AUG. DROUGHT CONTINUES.

AVIATION...VFR.

MARINE...SW FLOW WILL MEAN AT LEAST A FEW WAVES FOR THE SOUTH SHORE
LONG ISLAND BEACH. LATEST NOAA 12 AND 16 PASSES SHOWING WATER TEMPS
IN THE UPPER 60S TO ABOUT 70 IN THE OCEAN WITH LOWER TO MID 70S FOR
THE SOUND. EXPECT THESE TEMPS TO SLOWLY RISE WITH SW FLOW NEXT
SEVERAL DAYS.

*************** PREVIOUS 345 AM DISCUSSION ************************

SHORT TERM:  BIT OF AC/CI SPILLING OVR TOP OF RDG ERLY THIS AM...BUT
THE DAY SHUD STL AVG OUT AS MOSUNNY.  FAIRLY LGT WNDS THIS AM GIVE
WAY TO SW FLOW AS SFC HI SLIDES OFF CST.  THIS FLOW THEN CONTS FOR A
WHILE AS HI BCMS STNRY OFF THE CST...AND WL TEND TO KEEP CWA
PCPN-FREE FOR A WHILE.

LONGER TERM:  THOUGHT ABT TAKING OUT ALL PCPN TIL THU...BUT WL LV IN
FOR MON/WED AFTNS AS HEAT/HUMIDITY START TO RTN AND MDLS TRYING TO
INDICATE LEE TROF SETTING UP WHICH COULD BE ENUF TO KICK A FEW TS IN
THE AFTN HTG...AS COULD AFTN SEABREEZES.  BEST CHCS FOR ANY PCPN
THIS UPCOMING WK APPEAR TO BE W/ APCHG (AND WKNG) CDFNT THU AND
ANTHR FNT ON FRI.

MARINE:  QUIET W/ NO FLAGS.  WL KEEP WNDS AOB 20 KT THRUOUT...WHICH
IS A TAD LWR THAN PRVSLY FCST.

*******************************************************************

CT...NONE.
NY...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.

FORECAST TEAM - TONGUE/JK/MORRIN

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Suffolk

When: August 10, 2:00 PM EST to 4:45 PM EST
Where: Suffolk County, Montauk
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.941, -72.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Rip Current, Queens

When: August 10, 5:15 PM EST
Where: Queens County, Rockaway Beach
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.658, -73.839 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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, Suffolk	2002-08-10	18	Male	In Water	Direct
Rip Current, Suffolk	2002-08-10	17	Male	In Water	Direct
Rip Current, Queens	2002-08-10	69	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

Every storm in New York in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, August 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: 5313168, 5313169.