Rip Current in Guam, March 21, 2004

Name: Rip Current in Guam, March 21, 2004
Start: 2004-03-21T15:49
End: 2004-03-21T15:49
Location: Guam

March 21, 2004 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

m. Sunday 21 March 2004, a 36-year-old man drowned at a family picnic off of Piti on the west coast of central Guam.

The toll

Deaths: 1
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.

At about 3:49 p.m. Sunday 21 March 2004, a 36-year-old man drowned at a family picnic off of Piti on the west coast of central Guam. The man was pronounced dead at the US Naval Hospital at 4:05 p.m.

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 Mar 21, 3:41 PM SST, 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 21, 3:41 PM SST, 8 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 PM GUAM LST MON MAR 22 2004

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

A NEAR-EQUATORIAL TROUGH STRETCHES SOUTHEASTWARD FROM 4N130E
TO EQ152E. SCATTERED SHOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROUGH ARE LOCATED
WELL SOUTH OF PALAU WITHIN 60 MILES OF A LINE FROM 1N149E TO 4N141E
AND SOUTH OF CHUUK AND POHNPEI BETWEEN 3N AND 7N FROM 151E TO 160E.

TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS JUST EAST OF POHNPEI AND SOUTH OF MAJURO BETWEEN 2N
AND 7N FROM 165E TO 180.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Guam

When: March 21, 3:49 PM SST
Where: Guam County, Piti
Deaths: 1 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	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Rip Current, Guam	2004-03-21	36	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 Guam in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, March 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: 5411980.