California, 2019

Rip Current in California, October 4, 2019

October 4, 2019 · NWS MTR · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A swimmer was found dead off of Land's Beach in San Francisco. Search and rescue by helicopter and boat were unsuccessful.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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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 MTR wrote it up.

A swimmer was found dead off of Land's Beach in San Francisco. Search and rescue by helicopter and boat were unsuccessful.

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 San Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 4, 3:23 PM PST, 3 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 4, 3:23 PM PST, 3 hours 52 minutes before
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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, San Francisco

When
October 4, 7:15 PM PST to 8:00 PM PST
Where
San Francisco forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
County Official
Coordinates
37.778, -122.442 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 24 year old swimmer was found dead off Land's Beach in San Francisco. The swimmer was first reported missing after swimming into the water near Mile Rock Beach. Search and rescue by helicopter and boat on Friday were unsuccessful.

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, San Francisco2019-10-0424FemaleIn 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 California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in California, October 2019

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: 856591.