Waterspout in Puerto Rico, August 2, 2001

Name: Waterspout in Puerto Rico, August 2, 2001
Start: 2001-08-02T09:40
End: 2001-08-02T09:50
Location: Puerto Rico

August 2, 2001 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A resident of Humacao sighted a waterspout near Isla de Ramos in eastern Puerto Rico near the Humacao Airport. The waterspout lasted for about eight minutes and was moving northwest.

The toll

Deaths: 0
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 SJU wrote it up.

A resident of Humacao sighted a waterspout near Isla de Ramos in eastern Puerto Rico near the Humacao Airport. The waterspout lasted for about eight minutes and was moving northwest.

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 Juan, PR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 2, 2:00 AM AST, 7 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 2:00 AM AST, 7 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
200 AM AST THU AUG 2 2001

AN UPPER LEVEL LOW...LOCATED ABOUT 400 MILES NORTH OF PUERTO RICO
CONTINUES MOVING SLOWLY WEST. ASSOCIATED CONVECTION IS EVIDENT IN IR
SATELLITE IMAGES AT ITS SOUTHEAST QUADRANT...FROM WHICH A LOW LEVEL
REFLECTION EXTENDS SOUTHWEST ACROSS PUERTO RICO AT THIS TIME. EXPECT
THIS LOW LEVEL REFLECTION TO MOVE WEST ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THIS
MORNING BRINGING SOME INSTABILITY TO THE REGION. THIS
FEATURE...COMBINED WITH THE DIURNAL HEATING...THE OROGRAPHIC AND SEA
BREEZE EFFECTS WILL INCREASE THE FORMATION OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY ACROSS THE INTERIOR AND WEST SECTIONS OF PUERTO
RICO THIS AFTERNOON.

AN AREA OF SINKING DRY AIR IS DETECTED IN WATER VAPOR IMAGES MOVING
WEST ACROSS THE LEEWARD ISLANDS THIS MORNING. A WEAK TROPICAL WAVE
LOCATED NEAR LONGITUDE 58 WEST IS EXPECTED TO ARRIVE TO THE LOCAL
WATERS TONIGHT...APPROACHING PUERTO RICO BY EARLY FRIDAY. THIS
TROPICAL WAVE HAVE BEEN SHEARED TO THE NORTH BY THE UPPER LEVEL LOW.
HOWEVER...THIS TROPICAL WAVE WILL BRING RELATIVELY UNSTABLE
CONDITIONS...AND A SLIGHT INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BY EARLY
FRIDAY.

THEREFORE...EXPECT PARTLY SUNNY SKIES ACROSS THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
AND MOST PARTS OF PUERTO RICO TODAY...EXCEPT VARIABLE CLOUDINESS AND
CONVECTION USUALLY SEEN ACROSS THE INTERIOR AND WEST SECTIONS OF
PUERTO RICO DURING THE AFTERNOONS. LIGHT TO MODERATE PASSING SHOWERS
WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF PUERTO RICO AS WELL AS
ACROSS THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS TODAY.

EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.

.SJU...
.PR...NONE.
.VI...NONE.

ROCHE

WRITTEN TEXT FORECASTS (IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH)...SATELLITE IMAGERY
...DOPPLER RADAR DATA...AND A VIRTUAL LIBRARY OF WEATHER INFORMATION
CAN BE FOUND AT THE NWS SAN JUAN WEB SITES AT:

HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/SJU (ALL LOWER CASE).

    OR

HTTP://WWW.UPR.CLU.EDU/NWS (ALL LOWER CASE).

Event by event

1 waterspout. Local standard time, as filed.

Waterspout, Northeast

When: August 2, 9:40 AM AST to 9:50 AM AST
Where: Northeast County, Humacao
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

What these are

Waterspout: A tornado over water. One that moves ashore is filed as a tornado from the coastline on.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Puerto Rico, August 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: 5264448.