Rip Current in Guam, September 5, 2005

Name: Rip Current in Guam, September 5, 2005
Start: 2005-09-05T12:40
End: 2005-09-05T12:40
Location: Guam

September 5, 2005 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A man was lobster fishing near the reef in Mangilao when he was swept past the reef by strong rip currents, 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 man was lobster fishing near the reef in Mangilao when he was swept past the reef by strong rip currents, 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 5, 4:08 AM SST, 8 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 5, 4:08 AM SST, 8 hours 32 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST TUE SEP 6 2005

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

A DEVELOPING TROPICAL DISTURBANCE IS CENTERED ABOUT 200 MILES EAST
OF YAP NEAR 9N141E AND IS CURRENTLY THE SUBJECT OF A TROPICAL
CYCLONE FORMATION ALERT ISSUED BY THE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER.
SEE WMO HEADER WTPN21 PGTW FOR MORE DETAILS. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING JUST NORTHWEST OF THE CENTER...BETWEEN
9N AND 11N FROM 139E TO 141E. FARTHER OUT...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE FOUND OVER YAP...PALAU AND THE MARIANA
ISLANDS BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 16N FROM 132E TO 151E.

AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW IS LOCATED WELL NORTHEAST OF THE MARIANAS NEAR
23N151E. FAVORABLE UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW ARE
PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE
NORTHERNMOST MARIANA ISLANDS IN AN AREA BOUNDED BY 17N143E TO
21N142E TO 21N151E TO 27N158E TO 17N157E BACK TO 17N143E.

ANOTHER UPPER-LEVEL LOW NEAR 31N174E IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WELL NORTHEAST OF WAKE ISLAND WITHIN 90
MILES OF A LINE FROM 25N167E TO 22N172E.

TRADE-WIND CONVERGENCE IS GENERATING TWO AREAS OF SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. THE FIRST AREA IS FOUND WELL EAST OF THE
MARIANAS BETWEEN 12N AND 16N FROM 154E TO 165E. THE SECOND AREA
INCLUDES KWAJALEIN AND MAJURO AND IS WITHIN 120 MILES OF A LINE FROM
9N171E TO EQ164E.

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Guam

When: September 5, 12:40 PM SST
Where: Guam County, Mangilao
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	2005-09-05	45	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 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: 5478967.