Name: Rip Current in Guam, July 21, 2003
Start: 2003-07-21T13:00
End: 2003-07-21T14:00
Location: Guam

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.

Scott Norman, 50 years old, went to the cliffline at Taga Beach in Tinian and jumped in the water. A few minutes later Norman tried to swim ashore, but strong waves and currents pulled him away from the shore. He then yelled for help. James Manuel, who was sitting under a pine tree at the time, heard Norman's cries for help. He ran toward the upper-fenced in area and saw the victim struggling to swim ashore. Manuel ran towards a moped concession stand and borrowed a cellular phone from an attendant to call 911 for help.Manuel saw Charlie Palacios on a jetski and waved to him, yelled and pointed towards the location of Scott Norman. Palacios pulled Norman from the water and brought him to shore. Medics provided medical assistance before transporting him to Tinian Health Center for further treatment. Long period ocean swells generated by Super Typhoon Imbudo far to the west of the area, moved across the Mariana Islands from the 21st to the 24th. These long period swells produced Hazardous Surf across the Mariana Islands.

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 Jul 21, 4:13 AM SST, 8 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 4:13 AM SST, 8 hours 47 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST TUE JUL 22 2003

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

SUPER TYPHOON IMBUDO HAS MOVED WEST OF THE DISCUSSION AREA.
CONVERGENCE INTO IMBUDO IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN 12N AND 14N FROM 131E TO 133E.

A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE STRETCHES FROM A WEAK CIRCULATION
NEAR 3N145E TO 7N143E TO 13N144E. THIS TROUGH COMBINED WITH
FAVORABLE UPPER-LEVEL WINDS IS CREATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 10N FROM 138E
TO 152E. THIS AREA INCLUDES PORTIONS OF YAP AND CHUUK STATES.

A SECOND TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE STRETCHES FROM NEAR 4N155E TO
10N156E. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE
OCCURRING WITHIN 100 MILES OF THE TROUGH.

AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH EXTENDS FROM AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW CENTERED NEAR
22N156E SOUTHWESTWARD TO ANOTHER UPPER-LEVEL LOW NEAR 18N142E. THESE
FEATURES ARE GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
IN THE MARIANA ISLANDS BETWEEN 13N AND 18N FROM 144E TO 159E.

TRADE-WIND CONVERGENCE IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 10N FROM 160E TO 180. THIS
AREA INCLUDES KOSRAE STATE AND PORTIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE
MARSHALL ISLANDS.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Northern Marianas

When: July 21, 1:00 PM SST to 2:00 PM SST
Where: Northern Marianas County, Tinian
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

More

Every storm in Guam in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, July 2003

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: 5367320.