Rip Current in Guam, June 27, 2004

Name: Rip Current in Guam, June 27, 2004
Start: 2004-06-27T13:00
End: 2004-06-27T13:00
Location: Guam

June 27, 2004 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Three Chinese women, ages unknown, drowned in rough waters and strong currents off Sugar Dock Beach near Garapan, Saipan.

The toll

Deaths: 3
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.

Three Chinese women, ages unknown, drowned in rough waters and strong currents off Sugar Dock Beach near Garapan, Saipan.

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 Jun 27, 3:43 AM SST, 9 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 27, 3:43 AM SST, 9 hours 17 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST MON JUN 28 2004

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

TROPICAL STORM TINGTING...CENTERED NEAR 15N147E...IS MOVING
NORTHWEST AT 9 MPH WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 65 MPH. NUMEROUS
SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH TINGTING LIE
BETWEEN 10N AND 21N FROM 140E TO 155E. THIS AREA INCLUDES THE
MARIANA ISLANDS. SEE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER BULLETIN WTPN32
PGTW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

A MONSOON TROUGH STRETCHES FROM TYPHOON MINDULLE..LOCATED
EAST OF THE PHILIPPINES NEAR 18N127E..EASTWARD THROUGH TINGTING TO
12N154E TO 3N158E. MONSOON WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS TROUGH ARE
PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS

AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW CENTERED NEAR 28N173E IS ENHANCING SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS NORTHEAST OF WAKE ISLAND BETWEEN 20N AND 25N
FROM 163E TO 178E.

TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS BETWEEN THE
EQUATOR AND 10N FROM 162E TO THE DATE LINE. THIS AREA COVERS KOSRAE
STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Saipan

When: June 27, 1:00 PM SST
Where: Saipan County, Garapan
Deaths: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

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	Sex	Where	Kind
Rip Current, Saipan	2004-06-27	Female	In Water	Direct
Rip Current, Saipan	2004-06-27	Female	In Water	Direct
Rip Current, Saipan	2004-06-27	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

Every storm in Guam in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, June 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: 5431929.