Rip Current, Guam
- When
- April 4, 5:45 AM GST to 6:00 AM GST
- Where
- Guam forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- Newspaper
Rip Current in Guam, April 4, 2008
A tug boat captain was sailing his boat into the Agana Boat Basin on the morning of April 4th when strong swells and currents hit the boat at the entrance to the basin. The boat was grounded on the reef, then washed into the basin and overturned.
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 GUM wrote it up.
A tug boat captain was sailing his boat into the Agana Boat Basin on the morning of April 4th when strong swells and currents hit the boat at the entrance to the basin. The boat was grounded on the reef, then washed into the basin and overturned. The captain was thrown into the water, and he never surfaced. His body was recovered the next day in 45 feet of water.
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 Guam wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 3, 7:11 PM UTC, 34 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 3, 7:11 PM UTC, 34 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 511 AM CHST FRI APR 4 2008 .SYNOPSIS... DESPITE STRONG SUBSIDENCE ABOVE 700 MB...SOME SHOWER CLUSTERS HAVE MANAGED TO FORM NEARBY AND ENHANCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE NOCTURNAL MAXIMUM. 0.15 INCHES OF RAINFALL HAVE BEEN NOTED AT THE WFO SINCE MIDNIGHT. BASED ON THIS HAVE INCREASED FIRST PERIOD POPS FROM SLIGHT CHANCE TO ISOLATED. SHOWER COVERAGE EAST OF THE FORECAST ZONES STILL LOOKS ISOLATED...WITH A WEAK TRADE-WIND DISTURBANCE NOTED EAST OF THE FORECAST ZONES CROSSING 150E. && .DISCUSSION... TRADE-WIND DISTURBANCE NEAR 150E STILL LOOKS TOO WEAK TO GENERATE SCATTERED POPS WHEN IT PASSES THROUGH IN ABOUT 24 HOURS. GFS TIME-HEIGHT CROSS SECTION CARRIES NEARLY UNIFORM LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE TO AROUND 700 MB THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD...THUS WILL MAINTAIN PARTLY CLOUDY/ISOLATED WORDING DAYS 1 THROUGH 7. OTHERWISE... PERFORMED THE USUAL REFRESHING OF WIND AND DEW POINT GRIDS. && .MARINE... SAIPAN APPEARS TO BE ON THE EDGE OF THE LOBE OF NORTHWEST SWELL ENERGY DIRECTED SOUTHEASTWARD FROM JAPAN. AT WORST...LOOKS LIKE A THRESHOLD EVENT FOR SAIPAN. WITH HIGH SURF ADVISORY ALREADY ON THE STREET...WILL ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION AND CARRY THE EXISTING HAZARD GRID AS IS THROUGH 0500 CHST SATURDAY MORNING. SURF SHOULD SUBSIDE ON NORTH FACING EXPOSURES SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... POSSIBLY ALLOWING SURF TO FALL TO LOW RISK LEVELS FOR THOSE EXPOSURES BY THEN. NO HIGH SURF EVENTS APPEAR TO BE IN THE OFFING FOR THE MARIANAS THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK. && .HYDROLOGY/FIRE WEATHER... KBDI COULD STILL BREACH THE 600 LEVEL TOMORROW...BUT A WETTING RAIN MAY OCCUR INSTEAD TODAY WITH 15 HUNDREDTHS ALREADY IN THE RAIN GAUGE AND ISOLATED SHOWERS DANCING AROUND. INCREASED WINDS AND A MINIMUM RH NEAR 60 PERCENT COULD CAUSE RED FLAG CRITERIA TO BE MET ON SATURDAY. THIS LOOKS LIKE A MINIMAL EVENT AT BEST SO WILL LET DAY SHIFT CONSIDER WHETHER OR NOT A FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS PRUDENT. && .MICRONESIA... MODELS SHOW CONTINUED DRY WEATHER PATTERN FOR MICRONESIA THE NEXT FEW DAYS. NEAR-EQ TROUGH STILL EVIDENT SOUTH OF PALAU BUT ANY SHOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH IT SHOULD REMAIN SOUTH OF PALAU AND YAP. HIGH SURF SHOULD AFFECT MAINLY POHNPEI TONIGHT THRU SUN...WITH A MARGINAL EVENT AT CHUUK...KOSRAE AND ESPECIALLY MAJURO. && .GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GU...HIGH SURF ADVISORY UNTIL 5 AM CHST SATURDAY FOR GUZ001>004. MARIANAS WATERS...NONE. && MCELROY/MIDDLEBROOKE
Event by event
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
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 | 2008-04-04 | 31 | 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
- Tornadoes and Hail in Mississippi, April 4, 2008
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Louisiana, April 4, 2008
- Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, April 4, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, April 4 to 5, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Louisiana, April 4, 2008
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Alabama, April 4, 2008
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in Texas, April 4, 2008
- Flash Flooding in Kentucky, April 4, 2008
- Flash Flood and Hail in Arkansas, April 4, 2008
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Texas, April 4, 2008
- Tornadoes and Hail in South Carolina, April 4, 2008
- Flood in Arkansas, April 4 to 5, 2008
More
Every storm in Guam in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, April 2008
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: 85030.