Name: Rip Current in Guam, February 26, 2013
Start: 2013-02-26T16:45
End: 2013-02-26T19:30
Location: Guam

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 61-year-old male Saipan resident was swept out over the reef while snorkeling at Obyan Beach on southern Saipan about 1645 GST the afternoon of Tuesday, 26 February. He was reported missing at 1930 GST. His body has not been recovered, and he is presumed 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 Guam wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 25, 9:24 PM UTC, 9 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 25, 9:24 PM UTC, 9 hours 21 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
724 AM CHST TUE FEB 26 2013

.SYNOPSIS...
PGUA WSR-88D SHOWS ISOLATED SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH THE MARIANAS
WATERS. THE VAD WIND PROFILE REVEALS FRESH TO STRONG TRADE WINDS
THROUGH THE LOWEST TEN THOUSAND FEET.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
FRESH TO STRONG WINDS CONTINUE BEHIND A SHEAR LINE. SHOWERS HAVE
INCREASED OVERNIGHT...COULD JUST BE THE DIURNAL MAX THOUGH. DAY
SHIFT WILL NEED TO MONITOR...AND IF THEY CONTINUE TO INCREASE WE
MAY NEED A FORECAST UPDATE TO SCATTERED SHOWERS. OTHERWISE...MOST
OF THE INHERITED GRIDS LOOKED GOOD. JUST TWEAKED THE SKY GRIDS
BASED LOOSELY ON THE GFS40. THERE IS A LOT OF CLOUDINESS OUT THERE
SO WENT AHEAD AND CARVED OUT ABOUT 3 PERIODS OF MOSTLY CLOUDY
AND/OR PARTLY SUNNY.

&&

.MARINE...
BUOYS ARE HOVERING JUST BELOW 10 FEET. SINCE GLOBAL WAVE INDICATES
SOME WAVE HEIGHTS ABOVE 10 FEET AND THE BUOYS COULD BE PARTIALLY
SHELTERED...ERRED ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION AND MAINTAINED
ADVISORIES. VAD WIND PROFILE CERTAINLY SUPPORTS FREQUENT GUSTS TO
25 KNOTS IF NOT SUSTAINED WINDS. CURRENT TREND OF EXPIRING THE SCA
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON LOOKS GOOD AT THIS TIME. CURRENTLY THERE IS NO
HIGH SURF ADVISORY EXPECTED...BUT IT WILL BE CLOSE. THIS WILL BE
ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE FORECAST THAT WILL NEED CAREFUL MONITORING.

&&

.EASTERN MICRONESIA...
SHOWERS HAVE BEEN BUILDING IN ACROSS THE SOUTHERN MARSHALLS AND
BUTARITARI TO THE EAST OF KOSRAE THIS MORNING AHEAD OF A TRADE-
WIND SURGE. SHOWERS HAVE BECOME SCATTERED AT MAJURO...WHICH LIES
ALONG THE NORTHERN EDGE OF THESE SHOWERS. SATELLITE ANIMATION
SUGGESTS SHOWERS WILL PERSIST THERE TODAY. RAIN COULD WANE
OVERNIGHT AT MAJURO BUT MODELS SHOW SHOWERS WILL KEEP VERY CLOSE
TO THE SOUTH. AS WITH PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...SHORT TERM ADJUSTMENTS
MAY BE NEEDED THE NEXT FEW DAYS FOR ADDITIONAL SHOWERS. WINDS WILL
INCREASE A BIT BY THE END OF THE WEEK WITH A CONTINUED WETTER
PATTERN. THIS FEATURE WILL SHIFT WEST BRINGING A FEW MORE SHOWERS
TO KOSRAE BY TONIGHT..AND POHNPEI BY THURSDAY. MODELS SHOW A
PERSISTENT BAND OF SHOWERS BETWEEN 5N AND 7N...SO SHOWERS MAY
BRIEFLY BECOME SCATTERED AT KOSRAE AND POHNPEI BY THE END OF THE
WEEK.

ALTIMETRY SHOWS SEAS WITHIN THE 6 TO 8 FT RANGE ACROSS THE REGION.
WAVE WATCH MODEL SHOWS SEAS WILL SLOWLY BUILD BY SEVERAL FEET BY THE
END OF THE WEEK. SURF MAY BECOME HAZARDOUS BY THURSDAY AT KOSRAE
AND MAJURO.

&&

.WESTERN MICRONESIA...
DRY CONDITIONS PERSIST ACROSS THE MAJOR ISLANDS WHILE CLOUDS ARE
SEEN SOUTH OF 5N BETWEEN 137E AND 160E...AND OVER PARTS OF CHUUK
STATE. DRY WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MIDWEEK. SHOWERS ASSOCIATED
WITH A TRADE DISTURBANCE TO THE SOUTH WILL SLOWLY LIFT NORTHWESTWARD
FROM SOUTH OF CHUUK BY THE END OF THE WEEK. CLOUDS AND A FEW SHOWERS
WILL REACH YAP LATE ON THURSDAY...AND KOROR BY FRIDAY. AT CHUUK...A
DISTURBANCE NEAR MAJURO WILL BRING SLIGHTLY WETTER CONDITIONS TO
CHUUK ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.

&&

.GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GU...NONE.
MARIANAS WATERS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CHST WEDNESDAY
                  FOR PMZ151>154.

&&

STANKO/M. AYDLETT

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Saipan

When: February 26, 4:45 PM GST to 7:30 PM GST
Where: Saipan forecast zone
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, Saipan	2013-02-26	61	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

More

Every storm in Guam in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, February 2013

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: 427696.