Guam, 2011

High Surf in Guam, January 2, 2011

January 2, 2011 · NWS GUM · 1 event in 1 county or zone

At about 17:30 GST the evening of January 2nd, a six-person outrigger canoe rowed by a high-school rowing club capsized in rough water and high surf along the reef line of Tumon Bay on the west coast of Guam. A man in a kayak who went out to help was also overturned in the surf.

The toll

Deaths
2
Injuries
1
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.

At about 17:30 GST the evening of January 2nd, a six-person outrigger canoe rowed by a high-school rowing club capsized in rough water and high surf along the reef line of Tumon Bay on the west coast of Guam. A man in a kayak who went out to help was also overturned in the surf. Two of the rowers in the canoe drowned, and one was briefly hospitalized.

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 2, 5:50 AM UTC, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 2, 5:50 AM UTC, 1 hour 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
350 PM CHST SUN JAN 2 2011

.SYNOPSIS...
SATELLITE SHOWS A RAGGED SHEAR LINE STRETCHED ACROSS OUR NW MARINE
ZONES. RADAR SHOWS ISOLATED SHOWERS NW OF GUAM AND MINIMAL SHOWER
COVERAGE TO OUR EAST. SW OF GUAM...THE SHEAR LINE WAS CAUSING DEEP
CONVECTION IN AN AREA FROM NE OF YAP TO NW OF KOROR.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
MINOR CHANGES WERE MADE TO GRIDS. MODELS DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY BUT
ALL TREND TOWARD A MARGINALLY INCREASED FLOW OF MOISTURE FROM THE
SE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...WHILE THE SHEAR LINE LINGERS
VERY NEAR THE LOCAL AREA. GFS IS MORE DEFINITIVE ABOUT DEVELOPING
SCATTERED SHOWERS EARLY TUESDAY WHILE OTHER MODELS TREND TOWARD
ISOLATED SHOWERS. LATER FORECASTS WILL HAVE TIME TO FINE TUNE
CHANGES AS REQUIRED.

&&

.MARINE...
HIGH SURF ADV AND SMALL CRAFT ADV REMAIN IN EFFECT. LATEST WW3
SPECTRAL GUIDANCE IS SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN YESTERDAYS...BUT STILL
INDICATES COMBINED SEAS OF 9 TO 11 FEET THROUGH TUE FOR GUAM AND
THROUGH WED FOR SAIPAN. LOCAL REPORTS INDICATED THAT SURF OF 9 TO
12 FT ARRIVED ALONG NW SHORES ABOUT NOON. IPAN BUOY HAS NOT YET
REGISTERED NW OR N SWELL.

&&

.EASTERN MICRONESIA...WILL BE ADDED AFTER 5 PM.

&&

.WESTERN MICRONESIA...WILL BE ADDED AFTER 5 PM.

&&

.GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GU...HIGH SURF ADVISORY UNTIL 3 PM CHST WEDNESDAY FOR GUZ001>004.

MARIANAS WATERS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS UNTIL 3 PM CHST
     WEDNESDAY FOR PMZ151>154.

&&

SIMPSON/CHAN

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, Guam

When
January 2, 5:30 PM GST to 6:00 PM GST
Where
Guam forecast zone
Deaths
2 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
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.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
High Surf, Guam2011-01-0221FemaleIn WaterDirect
High Surf, Guam2011-01-0218MaleIn WaterDirect

What these are

High Surf
Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Guam in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, January 2011

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: 274061.