Rip Current, Guam
- When
- January 22, 5:00 PM GST to 8:00 PM GST
- Where
- Guam forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- Newspaper
Rip Current in Guam, January 22, 2008
A man was fishing along the reef line of Pago Bay on Guam when he was pulled into the water just after 17:00 GST on January 22nd and carried under by strong rip currents. His body was recovered at about 20:00 GST 40 feet underwater in the Pago Bay channel.
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 man was fishing along the reef line of Pago Bay on Guam when he was pulled into the water just after 17:00 GST on January 22nd and carried under by strong rip currents. His body was recovered at about 20:00 GST 40 feet underwater in the Pago Bay channel.
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 Jan 21, 7:39 PM UTC, 11 hours 21 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 7:39 PM UTC, 11 hours 21 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 539 AM CHST TUE JAN 22 2008 .SYNOPSIS... SATELLITE AND RADAR IMAGERY CONFIRM TONIGHT WHAT THE MODELS HAVE ADVERTISED FOR DAYS...THAT A WEAKENING SHEAR LINE WOULD PASS THROUGH THE MARIANAS...FOLLOWED BY DRIER AIR IN ITS WAKE. && .DISCUSSION... NO BIG CHANGES TO THE GRIDS. MODELS STILL BRING IN THE TRADE-WIND SURGE BEHIND THE SHEAR LINE FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. PRIMARY FORECAST CONCERN REMAINS WINDS...SEAS AND SURF. PLEASE SEE MARINE DISCUSSION SECTION FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS. && .EASTERN MICRONESIA... BASED ON SATELLITE IMAGERY...A SURFACE WAVE IS MERGING INTO THE WEAK CIRCULATION SOUTHWEST OF POHNPEI. CONVERGENCE ALONG THE BACK SIDE OF THE WAVE WILL CONTINUE TO GENERATE SCATTERED SHOWERS OVER POHNPEI AND KOSRAE THROUGH THIS MORNING. ONCE THE WAVE HAS BEEN ABSORBED BY THE CIRCULATION...CONVERGENCE WILL EASE AND LEAD TO DECREASING SHOWER COVERAGE LATER THIS AFTERNOON. FRESH TRADES WILL THEN DOMINATE THE AREA WITH DRIER CONDITIONS INTO THE WEEKEND. MAJURO IS ALREADY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FRESH TRADES AND WILL REMAIN SO THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. LATEST COMPUTER WAVE GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO SHOW THAT SURF ALONG NORTH FACING SHORES ON POHNPEI WILL REMAIN AT THE ADVISORY LEVEL OF 9 FT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THEREFORE THE HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR POHNPEI. && .WESTERN MICRONESIA... THE NEAR-EQUATORIAL TROUGH CONTINUES TO STAY WELL SOUTH OF KOROR...YAP AND CHUUK. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FROM THE PREVIOUS FORECAST ARE EXPECTED THROUGH WEDNESDAY. LATEST GFS AND ECMWF MODELS OUTPUT PRESENTS SOME DEVIATION FROM PREVIOUS RUNS. THE CIRCULATION CURRENTLY SOUTHEAST OF CHUUK WILL DRIFT WEST-SOUTHWEST AND CROSS THE EQUATOR AS A BUFFER NEAR 145E ON WEDNESDAY. A PIECE OF THE ENERGY FROM THIS SYSTEM MIGHT PROPAGATE ALONG THE TROUGH AXIS AND CREATE INSTABILITY FOR YAP AND PALAU ON THURSDAY. FOR THE TIME BEING...CLOUDINESS HAS BEEN INTRODUCED FOR THESE LOCATIONS. STRONG HIGH PRESSURE COMING OFF THE ASIAN CONTINENT IS STILL EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN TRADE WINDS ACROSS PALAU AND YAP BY FRIDAY. TRADE WINDS CONVERGING INTO THE CIRCULATION TO THE SOUTHEAST WILL KEEP PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSHOWERS OVER CHUUK THROUGH TONIGHT. FRESH TRADES FROM THE EAST ARE EXPECTED TO FINALLY PUSH THE CIRCULATION WESTWARD AWAY FROM CHUUK DURING WEDNESDAY. THIS WILL BRING IN MORE STABLE AIR AND REDUCE CLOUD COVER THROUGH SATURDAY. LATEST COMPUTER WAVE GUIDANCE INDICATES SURF ALONG NORTH-FACING SHORES ON CHUUK WILL REMAIN AT THE ADVISORY LEVEL OF 9 FT AND WILL PERSIST THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THEREFORE THE HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR CHUUK. && .MARINE... WILL USE THE IPAN BUOY TO INITIALIZE COMBINED SEAS ATTRIBUTABLE TO TRADE WINDS. WAVE WATCH TABULAR DATA SUGGEST FORECAST IS A BIT CONSERVATIVE REGARDING THE MARIANAS HIGH SURF ADVISORY END TIME. HOWEVER...IN LIGHT OF RECENT TRENDS EXTENDING THE END TIME OF THE CURRENT HIGH SURF EVENT...WILL MAINTAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON END TIME. COMBINED SEAS RIGHT NOW APPEAR TO BE ABOUT A FOOT BELOW THE COMBINED SEAS THRESHOLD OF 10 FEET. HOWEVER...EXPECT IMMINENT TRADE-WIND SURGE WILL CAUSE SEAS TO REBUILD ONCE AGAIN IN A FEW HOURS SO LEFT BOTH THE HIGH SURF AND SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES RIDE. && .GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GU...HIGH SURF ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CHST WEDNESDAY FOR GUZ001>004. MARIANAS WATERS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS UNTIL 6 PM CHST WEDNESDAY FOR PMZ151>154. && MCELROY/CHAN
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 | 2008-01-22 | 44 | 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
- Extreme Cold in Illinois, January 22 to 25, 2008
- Winter Weather in New Jersey, January 22 to 23, 2008
- Winter Weather in Delaware, January 22 to 23, 2008
- Lake-Effect Snow in New York, January 22 to 24, 2008
- Flash Flood in Illinois, January 22, 2008
- Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 22 to 23, 2008
- Winter Storm and Flooding in California, January 22 to 24, 2008
- Winter Weather in Georgia, January 22, 2008
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 22, 2008
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, January 22, 2008
- Winter Weather in Texas, January 22, 2008
- Frost and Freeze in Oregon, January 22, 2008
More
Every storm in Guam in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, January 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: 69012.