Name: Rip Current in Guam, March 30 to 31, 2017
Start: 2017-03-30T17:00
End: 2017-03-31T00:00
Location: Guam

The toll

Deaths: 1
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.

A 37 man died on the reef just off of Talafofo, Guam. The person died while fishing near the end of the month.

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 Mar 29, 9:34 PM UTC, 9 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 29, 9:34 PM UTC, 9 hours 26 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tiyan GU
734 AM ChST Thu Mar 30 2017

.Marianas Synopsis...East wind and a partly to mostly cloudy sky
will prevail today. Once again, there is a chance of isolated
showers.

&&

.Discussion...
A shear line across the Marianas has kept a mostly cloudy sky
over the area and brought some showers on Wednesday. A similar
scenario is anticipated today. Moisture is confined to the lowest
levels with dry air aloft. East wind of 15 to 20 mph is expected
through tonight before decreasing.

&&

.Marine...
The small craft advisory will remain in effect with combined seas
over 10 feet at Ritidian and Tanapag and over 7 feet at Ipan.
North swell should increase to around 4 feet. Easterly will be at
least 6 feet through Friday.

&&

.Eastern Micronesia...
Converging trade winds are bringing mostly cloudy skies with
isolated showers into Majuro today. This will likely persist
through Friday night before clearing out again. The Intertropical
Convergence Zone has sagged south of Kosrae, allowing isolated
showers and thunderstorms today. Scattered showers should move
back in tonight, then remain through Friday night also. The ITCZ
also sagged south of Pohnpei, and is likely to remain there.
Similarly, the weak tropical disturbance spinning up on the ITCZ
is expected to pass south of Pohnpei.

Sea heights are elevated, but are only reaching hazardous levels
at Kosrae. A high surf advisory will remain in effect there
through at least tonight. Seas will be slow to diminish though,
and combined with king tides of up to 6 feet, could still produce
minor coastal inundation through Friday at Kosrae and Saturday
morning at Majuro.

&&

.Western Micronesia...
Convection has worn itself out today in Palau, however is expected
to return tonight. It will then remain in the area through Friday
night. The bulk of it is still expected to pass south of Yap, with
perhaps just a few thunderstorms along the northern edge of the
disturbance through Saturday. The disturbance currently just south
of Pohnpei is expected to similarly pass just south of Chuuk.

Sea heights also remain elevated in Western Micronesia. They will
start to slowly diminish on Sunday. Therefore, no advisories are
anticipated for Western Micronesia through the weekend at least.

&&

.GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GU...None.
Marianas Waters...Small Craft Advisory until 10 PM CHST this evening for
     PMZ151>154.

&&

Nierenberg/Stanko

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Belau

When: March 30, 5:00 PM GST to March 31, 12:00 AM GST
Where: Belau forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Newspaper

A 37-year-old man died on the reef just off of Ipan Talofofo, Guam.

Guam Fire Department responded to a beach along the east side of Guam after 23:40 on the night of the 30th. At that time fire department personnel pulled a distressed fisherman to safety.

The fisherman told the firefighters that he and a few other people were walking the reef, searching for lobsters. Since the other men could not be seen, searchers combed the Calvo Beach area near Ipan, Talofofo.

Sea heights just off-shore were between 8 and 9 feet as recorded by the Ipan wave rider buoy. The tide was also decreasing during the evening which may have helped enhance already strong currents.

At around 10:00 am on the 31st, a U. S. Coast Guard boat recovered the body of the 37-year-old man outside the reef in front of the Calvo Beach in Ipan, Talofofo Guam.

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, Belau	2017-03-30	37	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 2017 Every state in 2017 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, March 2017

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: 682838.