Guam, 2005

High Surf in Guam, January 1, 2005

January 1, 2005 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A 38-year-old man and his wife, 31, were kayaking off Urunao Point in northern Guam when a large wave swept them outside the reef and knocked them out of their kayak. The woman drowned, while the man suffered cuts and abrasions.

The toll

Deaths
1
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.

A 38-year-old man and his wife, 31, were kayaking off Urunao Point in northern Guam when a large wave swept them outside the reef and knocked them out of their kayak. The woman drowned, while the man suffered cuts and abrasions.

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 Jan 1, 4:03 PM SST, 1 hour 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 1, 4:03 PM SST, 1 hour 17 minutes before
AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 PM GUAM LST SUN JAN 2 2005

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

A STRONG COLD FRONT EXTENDS FROM 25N150E SOUTHWESTWARD TO 21N145E
AND A SHEAR LINE EXTENDS FROM THE FRONT SOUTHWESTWARD TO THE CENTRAL
PHILIPPINES. EXTENSIVE CLOUDINESS AND AREAS OF LIGHT RAIN AND
SHOWERS ARE FOUND ALONG AND UP TO 300 MILES NORTHWEST OF THESE
BOUNDARIES.

A WEAK NEAR-EQUATORIAL TROUGH STRETCHES FROM 5N130E SOUTHEASTWARD TO
NEAR THE EQUATOR AT 150E. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROUGH ARE OCCURRING BETWEEN 1N AND 5N FROM 132E
TO 139E...WELL SOUTH OF YAP AND KOROR.

TRADE-WIND CONVERGENCE IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS SOUTHWEST OF YAP AND WEST AND SOUTHWEST OF CHUUK...OR
75 MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 8N143E TO THE EQUATOR AT 150E.

BRISK NORTHEAST FLOW BETWEEN STRONG HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE NORTH
CENTRAL PACIFIC AND LOW PRESSURE WEST OF HAWAII CONTINUES TO FUNNEL
UNUSUALLY DRY AIR SOUTHWESTWARD INTO THE MARSHALL ISLANDS AND ACROSS
WAKE ISLAND. WITHIN THIS AIR MASS...WIDESPREAD SHALLOW LOW CLOUDS
SPREAD OVER MUCH OF THE REGION EAST OF 150E AND NORTH OF 10N.
HOWEVER...LITTLE OR NO RAINFALL IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CLOUDINESS.

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, Guam

When
January 1, 5:20 PM SST
Where
Guam forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
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.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
High Surf, Guam2005-01-0131FemaleIn WaterDirect

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

More

Every storm in Guam in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, January 2005

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: 5441401.