Rip Current, Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex
- When
- September 16, 6:00 AM EST to September 17, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex forecast zone
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Rip Current in Delaware, September 16 to 17, 2006
An elderly man was rescued by lifeguards after he was caught in a rip current that dragged him about 100 yards offshore in the ocean in Delaware State Park just north of Dewey Beach. The onshore flow between a high pressure system west of the state and a low pressure system well east of the North Carolina coast caused enhanced rip currents during the weekend of the 16th and 17th.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- 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 PHI wrote it up.
An elderly man was rescued by lifeguards after he was caught in a rip current that dragged him about 100 yards offshore in the ocean in Delaware State Park just north of Dewey Beach. The onshore flow between a high pressure system west of the state and a low pressure system well east of the North Carolina coast caused enhanced rip currents during the weekend of the 16th and 17th.
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 Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 16, 2:08 AM EST, 3 hours 52 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 16, 2:08 AM EST, 3 hours 52 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 308 AM EDT SAT SEP 16 2006 .SHORT TERM /TODAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/... THE CYCLONIC FLOW AROUND THE UPPER LOW DRIFTS SLOWLY SOUTHEAST AND THEN OFF THE COAST TODAY. BUT UNTIL THE LOW MOVES EAST AND WE LOSE THE FLOW FROM AROUND THE LOW, THERE WILL BE A CONTINUED CHANCE OF SHOWERS WITH ANY EMBEDDED SHORT WAVES WITHIN THE FLOW. RAIN/SHOWERS CONTINUING MOVING ONSHORE OVER THE NRN ZONES, BUT AS THEY HEAD WEST THEY HAVE BEEN DISSIPATING. FOLLOWING TRENDS, I WILL NEED TO KEEP A CHANCE OF SHOWERS THIS MORNING ALL AREAS, AND THEN HOLD ONTO THE CHC INTO THE AFTN OVER THE SOUTHERN AREAS. OVER THE NORTH, I KEPT A SLIGHT CHC SINCE MODELS STILL SHOW A PSBL SHORT WAVE AFFECTING THE NORTH AS LATE AS 18Z. TONIGHT...THE DRY AIR FINALLY ARRIVES AS THE LOW MOVES FAR ENOUGH AWAY FROM THE COAST TO ALLOW RIDGING ALOFT. THE CLEARING WILL BE SLOWEST SOUTHERN ZONES AS LINGERINGY CYCLONIC FLOW CONTINUES UNTIL MIDNIGHT. AS THE HIGH/RIDGE ALOFT BUILD IN FROM THE WEST, CLEARING SKIES TONIGHT COMBINED WITH LIGHT WINDS SHOULD ALLOW PATCHY FOG TO FORM NORTH. SUNDAY AND MONDAY LOOK QUITE NICE WITH LOTS OF SUNSHINE DUE TO THE SFC HIGH AND STRONG RIDGE ALOFT. LINGERING SUMMERTIME WARMTH WILL BE IN PLACE WITH H8 TEMPS UP TO 14 ON SUN AND 16 ON MONDAY. BUT SINCE THE SUN ANGLE IS LIKE IT WAS IN JULY, THE MAV FCST HIGHS OF WELL INTO THE 70S NORTH TO THE LOWER AND MID 80S CENTRAL AND SOUTH LOOK REASONABLE. MONDAY NIGHT...A COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NORTHWEST AND SHOULD REACH THE NW ZONES BY TUE AM. DUE TO THE FRONTAL POSITION AND WARM AIR AHEAD OF THE FRONT, SOME TSTMS COULD PRECED OR ACCOMPANY THE COLD FRONT. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... FOLLOWING PREVIOUS HPC FORECAST AND AFTER A LOOK AT THE NEW GFS, A COLD FRONT SHOULD MOVE THROUGH EARLY TUE MORNING. THEN CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT WITH COLD AIR ADVECTION COULD KEEP SOME SHOWERS OVER THE AREA TUESDAY. HIGH PRESSURE THEN BUILDS EAST OVER THE REGION FOR WED, THU AND FRIDAY WITH DRY WEATHER EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES MID WEEK WILL FEEL MORE LIKE OCTOBER. THE MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT DROPPING THE H8 PLUS 5 SOUTH OF THE AREA, EVEN IF THE MODELS ARE TOO COLD, AND THEY USUALLY DONT MODIFY AIRMASSES FAST ENOUGH THIS TIME OF YEAR LONG RANGE, HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE HARD PRESSED TO SEE 70 WED AND THURSDAY. FRIDAY SHOULD NOT BE QUITE AS COOL AS THE AIRMASS MODIFIES. && .AVIATION... MVFR CONDITIONS, MAINLY FOR CEILINGS, ARE PREVALENT EARLY THIS MORNING AS AREAS OF SHOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LOW AFFECT THE TERMINAL SITES. SOME LOCAL IFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED AS WELL, ESPECIALLY IN ANY HEAVIER RAIN OR FOG. THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME VFR CONDITIONS AS ESPECIALLY BETWEEN ANY WAVES OF RAIN. OVERALL, EXPECT CONDITIONS TO IMPROVE BY AFTERNOON AS THE UPPER LOW SLOWLY MOVES AWAY TO THE NORTHEAST. THE RAIN WILL END FIRST BUT CLOUDS AND SOME MVFR CIGS WILL LINGER, THEN THE CLOUDS WILL THIN AND VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL. WHILE SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE AFTER LATE MORNING, ESPECIALLY OVER EASTERN NEW JERSEY, PROBABILITIES ARE TOO LOW TO INCLUDE IN TAFS ATTM. && .MARINE... SEAS ARE BETWEEN 5 AND 6 FT AT BUOY 44009 AND ABOVE 6 FEET AT BUOY 44025. LATEST WAVEWATCH HAS TRENDED A BIT DOWNWARD WITH BOTH WAVE HEIGHTS AND THE AMOUNT OF TIME THEY WILL LINGER. HOWEVER, CURRENT OBSERVATIONS ARE HIGHER THAN WAVEWATCHS PREDICTION, SO THERE IS SOME UNCERTAINTY IN THE FORECAST. AS A RESULT, WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO HEADLINES ATTM. WITH DECENT NELY FETCH, EXPECT THE SEAS TO REMAIN UP UNTIL THE LOW PULLS AWAY FROM THE AREA TONIGHT. WAVES WILL THEN SUBSIDE INTO SUNDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION. A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE AREA ON TUESDAY BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE OF RAIN AND POSSIBLY SOME HIGHER SEAS. && .PHI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PA...NONE. NJ...NONE. DE...NONE. MD...NONE. MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ANZ450>455 UNTIL 1 AM SUNDAY. && SHORT TERM/LONG TERM...STAUBER AVIATION/MARINE...NIERENBERG
Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 16, 5:20 AM EST, 40 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 620 AM EDT SAT SEP 16 2006 ANZ430-431-DEZ001>003-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012- 013-015>023-027-PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071-171030- DELAWARE BAY WATERS NORTH OF EAST POINT NJ TO SLAUGHTER BEACH DE- DELAWARE BAY WATERS SOUTH OF EAST POINT NJ TO SLAUGHTER BEACH DE- NEW CASTLE-KENT DE-INLAND SUSSEX-CECIL-KENT MD-QUEEN ANNES- TALBOT-CAROLINE-SUSSEX-WARREN-MORRIS-HUNTERDON-SOMERSET-MIDDLESEX- WESTERN MONMOUTH-MERCER-SALEM-GLOUCESTER-CAMDEN- NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-OCEAN-CUMBERLAND-ATLANTIC-CAPE MAY- SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON-CARBON-MONROE-BERKS-LEHIGH-NORTHAMPTON- CHESTER-MONTGOMERY-BUCKS-DELAWARE-PHILADELPHIA- 620 AM EDT SAT SEP 16 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE AND NEW JERSEY, EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. ANZ450>455-DEZ004-NJZ014-024>026-171030- COASTAL WATERS FROM SANDY HOOK TO MANASQUAN INLET NJ OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM MANASQUAN INLET TO LITTLE EGG INLET NJ OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM LITTLE EGG INLET TO GREAT EGG INLET NJ OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM GREAT EGG INLET TO CAPE MAY NJ OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM CAPE MAY NJ TO CAPE HENLOPEN DE OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM CAPE HENLOPEN TO FENWICK ISLAND DE OUT 20 NM- DELAWARE BEACHES-EASTERN MONMOUTH-ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY- COASTAL ATLANTIC-COASTAL OCEAN- 620 AM EDT SAT SEP 16 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE AND NEW JERSEY, EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS ALONG THE NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE COASTS. CONDITIONS MAY APPROACH HIGH RISK THIS MORNING IN SOME AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. NIERENBERG
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Tornadoes and Hail in Minnesota, September 16, 2006
- Debris Flow in Colorado, September 16, 2006
- Rip Current in Florida, September 16, 2006
- Tornado in South Dakota, September 16, 2006
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, September 16, 2006
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, September 16 to 17, 2006
- Flood in Nebraska, September 16 to 17, 2006
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, September 16, 2006
- Tornado in South Dakota, September 16, 2006
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, September 16 to 17, 2006
- Frost and Freeze in Colorado, September 16 to 17, 2006
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, September 16, 2006
More
Every storm in Delaware in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, September 2006
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: 5534982.