Texas, 2017

Rip Current in Texas, April 16, 2017

April 16, 2017 · NWS HGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A moderate surf produced a rip current strong enough to cause a drowning in Galveston.

Where it happened

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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 HGX wrote it up.

A moderate surf produced a rip current strong enough to cause a drowning in Galveston.

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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 16, 8:33 AM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 8:33 AM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Houston/Galveston TX
933 AM CDT Sun Apr 16 2017

.UPDATE...
Patchy fog outside of the Houston metro continues to lift this
morning, with warm and humid conditions expected to persist for
the rest of Easter Sunday as highs climb into the low to mid 80s.
Morning soundings from Corpus Christi and Lake Charles reported
precipitable water values around 1.2 inches and this moisture,
combined with convective temperatures in the mid 70s, should allow
for isolated to scattered shower (and possibly a few
thunderstorms) to develop late morning/early afternoon. Morning
water vapor imagery also shows a shortwave trough lifting across
the Rio Grande near Del Rio and energy from this disturbance may
enhance coverage across the northern counties later this afternoon
and evening, but current forecast appears to handle trends well
and only minor changes made to temperatures and dew points based
on latest observations.

Huffman

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 444 AM CDT Sun Apr 16 2017/

DISCUSSION...
Starting to see some patchy fog develop across parts of the area.
Similar to the previous couple days...the vast majority of it should
burn off by mid morning.

Shra/tstm chances will be on a gradual uptick between today and
Tue. Combination of increasing moisture levels, weak impulses
aloft, daytime heating and the seabreeze should produce scattered,
mainly diurnally driven precip.

Rain chances should diminish Wed-Fri as a ridge begins nosing
into the region from the southwest.

The next storm system still looks to make its way southeastward
from the Pacific Northwest into the southern Plains by late
Friday. It's associated frontal boundary (and shra/tstms) should
move into se Tx sometime Saturday. 47

MARINE...
Not a lot of changes with the marine forecast for these next several
days as high pressure to the east helps to keep a light/moderate on-
shore flow in place across the upper Texas coastal waters. Scattered
showers will be possible across the bays/nearshore waters this after
noon. Otherwise, not expecting any Caution/Advisory flags through at
least the middle of next week. Extended models are still keeping the
passage of a strong a cold front in for Sat. 41

Aviation...
High clouds moving across from the W/NW have kept things a bit more
muddled this morning. In between these bands of high clouds will be
expecting patchy IFR CIGS/VIS through mid morning (given the low Td
spreads/light winds/wet grounds). Widely scattered/scattered cover-
age of SHRA/TSRAs this afternoon expected as weak upper level dist-
urbances move across the area. Otherwise, we should see similar IFR
conditions for tonight/early Mon morning. 41

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
College Station (CLL)      83  68  82  65  81 /  20  10  30  30  50
Houston (IAH)              83  68  82  67  81 /  30  10  40  10  50
Galveston (GLS)            81  73  80  73  80 /  10  10  20  10  20

&&

.HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...NONE.
GM...NONE.
&&

Discussion...14

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Galveston

When
April 16, 11:00 AM CST to 11:10 AM CST
Where
Galveston forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
Lifeguard
Coordinates
29.298, -94.811 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Moderate surf created a rip current strong enough to cause a drowning around 20 to 30 yards offshore near 35th street.

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
Rip Current, Galveston2017-04-1631MaleIn WaterDirect

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 Texas in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 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: 691029.