Lightning Strike in Guam, November 8, 2001

Name: Lightning Strike in Guam, November 8, 2001
Start: 2001-11-08T14:40
End: 2001-11-08T15:30
Location: Guam

November 8, 2001 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Lightning caused an island wide power outage. The strike hit a main transmission line in Hagatna at about 1445 causing a power surge.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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 GUA wrote it up.

Lightning caused an island wide power outage. The strike hit a main transmission line in Hagatna at about 1445 causing a power surge. Power began to be restored by 1530 and by 1830 98 percent of the island had electricity.

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 GUA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 8, 3:43 AM SST, 10 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 8, 3:43 AM SST, 10 hours 57 minutes before

AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST FRI NOV 9 2001

WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180.

A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDS FROM 3N142E TO 15N143E. SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS TROUGH ARE
LOCATED BETWEEN 6N AND 14N FROM 142E TO 147E.

TRADE WIND CONVERGENCE COMBINED WITH FAVORABLE UPPER LEVEL WINDS IS
GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS WITHIN 100 MILES OF A LINE FROM 15N156E
TO 8N168E.

CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH A WEAK CIRCULATION SOUTH OF MAJURO NEAR
4N169E IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
BETWEEN 3N AND 9N FROM 170E TO 178E.

CONVERGENT WINDS ARE PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS SOUTH OF PALAU
BETWEEN 1N AND 6N FROM 133E TO 136E.

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Guam

When: November 8, 2:40 PM SST to 3:30 PM SST
Where: Guam County, Central Portion
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Guam in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, November 2001

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: 5274724.