Rip Current in Guam, September 3, 2005

Name: Rip Current in Guam, September 3, 2005
Start: 2005-09-03T16:30
End: 2005-09-03T16:30
Location: Guam

September 3, 2005 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A Japanese tourist was overcome by strong rip currents in Tumon Bay, and drowned.

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.

A Japanese tourist was overcome by strong rip currents in Tumon Bay, and drowned.

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 Sep 3, 4:25 PM SST, 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 3, 4:25 PM SST, 5 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 PM GUAM LST SUN SEP 4 2005

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

TYPHOON NABI (14W) IS CENTERED NEAR 25N132E...ABOUT 270 MILES
EAST-SOUTHEAST OF OKINAWA. HEAVY RAIN AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
EXTEND OUTWARD 170 MILES FROM THE CENTER. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND FARTHER OUT IN SPIRAL RAINBANDS
NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM 15N130E TO 25N141E TO BEYOND 25N. FOR MORE
DETAILS ON TYPHOON NABI...SEE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER BULLETINS
UNDER WMO HEADER WTPN31 PGTW.

A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDS NORTHEASTWARD FROM 2N140E THROUGH A
WEAK CIRCULATION CENTERED NEAR 7N147E AND THEN CONTINUES ON TO END
NEAR 15N153E. CONVERGING WINDS INTO THE TROUGH ARE CREATING
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN AN AREA BOUNDED BY
15N150E TO 11N155E TO 4N153E TO 4N145E TO 4N140E TO 8N144E BACK TO
15N150E. THIS AREA INCLUDES YAP AND IS LOCATED WELL SOUTH AND EAST
OF THE MARIANAS.

UPPER-LEVEL DIVERGENCE...MIDWAY BETWEEN SAIPAN AND WAKE ISLAND...IS
PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITHIN 170
MILES OF A LINE FROM 19N152E TO 14N162E.

ANOTHER SURFACE TROUGH EXTENDS NORTHEASTWARD FROM EQ165E TO 10N172E.
TRADE WINDS CONVERGING INTO THE TROUGH ARE GENERATING SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITHIN 150 MILES OF A LINE FROM
2N160E TO 8N180. THIS INCLUDES POHNPEI AND MAJURO.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Guam

When: September 3, 4:30 PM SST
Where: Guam County, Central Portion
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	2005-09-03	28	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 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, September 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: 5478966.