Rip Current, Saipan
- When
- February 10, 4:30 PM SST
- Where
- Saipan County, Countywide
- Deaths
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
Rip Current in Guam, February 10, 2004
A tourist and his wife drowned at Laulau Beach while snorkeling when strong rip currents and large waves carried them past the reef.
The toll
- Deaths
- 2
- 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 GUA wrote it up.
A tourist and his wife drowned at Laulau Beach while snorkeling when strong rip currents and large waves carried them past the reef.
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 Feb 10, 4:00 PM SST, 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 10, 4:00 PM SST, 30 minutes before
AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 1 PM GUAM LST WED FEB 11 2004 WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180. A WEAK TROPICAL DISTURBANCE LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 450 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GUAM NEAR 7N147E COMBINED WITH A SURFACE TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDING FROM THE CIRCULATION TO 2N158E IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN 13N AND 6N FROM 137E TO 153E AND SCATTERED SHOWERS 120 MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 5N153E TO 1N157E. THIS AREA INCLUDES PORTIONS OF YAP STATE...THE SOUTHERN MARIANAS AND CHUUK. TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS OVER KOSRAE AND ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN MARSHALL ISLANDS BETWEEN 6N AND 2N FROM 162E TO 178E. A SHEAR LINE EXTENDING FROM 16N130E TO 25N146E IS PRODUCING EXTENSIVE LOW-LEVEL CLOUDINESS AND LIGHT RAIN ALONG AND UP TO 200 MILES NORTH OF THE BOUNDARY.
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, Saipan | 2004-02-10 | 51 | Male | In Water | Direct |
| Rip Current, Saipan | 2004-02-10 | 51 | 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
- High Wind in California, February 10, 2004
- Blizzard in Montana, February 10 to 11, 2004
- Blizzard in North Dakota, February 10 to 11, 2004
- Winter Storm in North Dakota, February 10, 2004
- Dense Fog in Kentucky, February 10, 2004
- Dense Fog in Missouri, February 10, 2004
- Flooding in Kentucky, February 10 to 17, 2004
- Blizzard in North Dakota, February 10 to 11, 2004
- Frost and Freeze in California, February 10 to 11, 2004
- Ice Storm and High Wind in Alaska, February 10, 2004
- Flood in Indiana, February 10 to 13, 2004
- Heavy Snow in Michigan, February 10, 2004
More
Every storm in Guam in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, February 2004
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: 5394567.