High Surf, Nassau
- When
- June 15, 6:00 AM EST to 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Nassau forecast zone
- Deaths
- 4 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
High Surf in New York, June 15, 2002
A 25 foot pleasure boat named "Eleni II" left Jones Inlet at 6:00 am for the Freeport Hudson Anglers Shark Tournament and was last seen at 7:00 am about 12 miles south of Jones Beach. It is presumed that rough seas capsized the boat, which resulted in the drowning deaths of all 4 men.
The toll
- Deaths
- 4
- 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 happened
The episode as NWS OKX wrote it up.
As a low pressure system developed southeast of Long Island, northeast winds increased to 20 to 25 knots and seas built to around 8 feet, which was measured by Buoy 44025 (about 20 miles south of Fire Island Inlet).A 25 foot pleasure boat named "Eleni II" left Jones Inlet at 6:00 am for the Freeport Hudson Anglers Shark Tournament and was last seen at 7:00 am about 12 miles south of Jones Beach. It is presumed that rough seas capsized the boat, which resulted in the drowning deaths of all 4 men. The 4 men on board were all seasoned fisherman, some with more than 30 years experience dedicated to catching big fish.
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 Jun 15, 2:33 AM EST, 3 hours 27 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 15, 2:33 AM EST, 3 hours 27 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 333 AM EDT SAT JUN 15 2002 ...ZFP/RDF... SHORT RANGE: 3 SEPARATE SLUGS OF RAFL TO CONTEND WITH THIS AM. 1ST AREA IS W/ SFC CIRC OFF NJ CST AND MOVG NEWD. THIS AREA SHUD CLIP ERN LI NXT CPL OF HRS. 2ND AREA BHND CSTL LO(S) MOVG NE ALG CST AND SHUD OVRSPRD MUCH OF RGN IN RUFFLY 0900-1200 UTC TIME RANGE AND BE GONE B4 NOONTIME. LAST AREA IS W/ S/WV AND SFC TROF ROTATING ARND UPR LO IN GRT LKS. MST OF THIS SHUD RMN N AND W OF CWA. AM INCLINED TO GO W/ LKLY/CAT RA/DZ ERLY THIS AM TAPERING TO SCT SHRAS BY MID AM AND HV THEM EXIT STAGE RIGHT (OR NE IN THIS CASE) ARND MIDDAY/ERL AFTN. THEN...LOOKS RELATIVELY DRY FOR THE AFTN. OVERALL...WHILE MDLS QUITE SIMLR ERLY ON...PREFER AVN AS IT DOESNT MOV UPR LO OUT AS FAST NOR DOES IT OPEN IT UP AS QUIKLY. PMDHMD PRFRS AVN W/ BETTER CONTINUITY TO PRVS RUNS AS WELL. THEN...MDLS BRING ANTHR PIECE OF ENERGY ARND BASE OF TROF LT THIS AFTN W/ ANTHR ROUND OF SCT SHRAS/TS. POPS AND QPF FM HRLY SNDGS INDICATE THAT MUCH OF THIS SHUD AVOID CWA...PERHAPS BRUSH NWRN ZNS. WL ADD LO CHC POPS ONLY FOR THESE AREAS ERLY TNGT. MID RANGE: OCNL UNSETTLED WX INTO ERLY NXT WK AS S/WVS ROTATE ARND SLO MOVG UPR LO. NOT A LOT OF CHG FM PRVS PCKG THO HV TAKEN OUT SHRAS FOR MON DAYTIME. LONG RANGE: ONCE UPR LO EXITS (TUE?)...LOOKS LIKE DRY AND WARMER WX FOR MID-LT NXT WK. IF LLVL FLOW MORE W OR NW...PTNTL FOR 90 BY LT IN WK FOR AT LST KEWR VCNTY. ...CWF... CSTL WNDS/SEAS: SCA RMNS UP FOR SEAS ONLY ON OCEAN AS WNDS HV DMNSHD. ...ETC... NEW DROUGHT STATEMENT ISSUED BY HYDRO-DUDE FRI EVNG (ESFOKX/FGUS81 KOKX). .OKX... CT...NONE. NJ...NONE. NY...NONE. MARINE...SCA ALL WATERS...ANZ355-353-350-335-330-338. REYNOLDS
Event by event
1 high surf. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Surf, Nassau | 2002-06-15 | 40 | Male | Boat | Direct |
| High Surf, Nassau | 2002-06-15 | 61 | Male | Boat | Direct |
| High Surf, Nassau | 2002-06-15 | 39 | Male | Boat | Direct |
| High Surf, Nassau | 2002-06-15 | 46 | Male | Boat | Direct |
What these are
- High Surf
- Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Winds in Texas, June 15 to 16, 2002
- Rip Current in Florida, June 15, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, June 15, 2002
- Hail in Nebraska, June 15, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 15 to 16, 2002
- Wildfire in California, June 15 to 18, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 15 to 16, 2002
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Kansas, June 15, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 15, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, June 15, 2002
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, June 15, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 15, 2002
More
Every storm in New York in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, June 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: 5309739.