High Surf in Puerto Rico, July 4, 2001

Name: High Surf in Puerto Rico, July 4, 2001
Start: 2001-07-04T15:30
End: 2001-07-04T16:00
Location: Puerto Rico

July 4, 2001 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A person on board in an inflatable boat drowned when rough seas turned over the boat near shore. Two of its occupants were able to swim to shore.

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 SJU wrote it up.

A person on board in an inflatable boat drowned when rough seas turned over the boat near shore. Two of its occupants were able to swim to shore.

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 Jul 4, 11:10 AM AST, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 11:10 AM AST, 4 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
1110 AM AST WED JUL 04 2001

STRONG NE LLVL FLOW LAST NIGHT HAS VEERED TO ENE THIS MORNING AND
CONTINUES TO ADVECT IN NUMEROUS CLUSTERS OF LOW CLOUDS AND SHOWERS
ACROSS THE REGION. I HAVE MADE SOME VERY SLIGHT ALTERATIONS TO 4 AM
FORECAST AS WE TYPICALLY UNDERFORECAST AREAL COVERAGE OF THESE TYPES
OF EVENTS WITH QUICKLY PASSING SHOWERS. VISIBLE SATELLITE WINDS FROM
BOTH CIMMS AND NESDIS INDICATING A LLVL INVERTED TROUGH MOVING INTO
THE LOCAL AREA THIS MORNING...AND IS REFLECTED BY A SMALL 850 HPA
THETAE MAX BY AVN...MOVING DIRECTLY OVER LOCAL AREA THIS AFTERNOON.
ALTHOUGH MIDDLE TO UPPER LEVEL INSTABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH
APPROACHING UPPER TROUGH WILL CONTINUE ON THURSDAY...LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE IS EXPECTED TO DECREASE CONSIDERABLY IN LLVL SPEED
DIVERGENCE...AND THUS LOWER CHANCES OF AREAL RAINFALL COVERAGE
EXPECTED FOR THURSDAY THAN TODAY. WEAK TROPICAL WAVE STILL SUGGESTED
BY SATELLITE IMAGERY AND DERIVED WINDS ALONG 55/56W THIS MORNING...
BUT SHOULD REMAIN SOUTH OF FORECAST AREA AS IT PASSES US THURSDAY
AND THURSDAY NIGHT...AND LOCAL STAFF CHOOSING TO IGNORE IT.

EQUIPMENT: WSR-88D CONTINUES TO HAVE AN INTERMITTENT PROBLEM WITH
RECEIVING LOW END (20 DBZ ON DOWN) REFLECTIVITY. FAA TECHS HAVE MADE
INITIAL INVESTIGATIONS...AND PER NWS REQUEST...WILL SERVICE THE
RADAR ON THURSDAY.

.SJU...
.PR...SCA AMZ770-750-773-775.
.VI...SCA AMZ770-750-773.

70

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.SVRH.NOAA.GOV/SJU (ALL LOWER CASE).

    OR

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

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, Northeast

When: July 4, 3:30 PM AST to 4:00 PM AST
Where: Northeast County, Loiza
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

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
High Surf, Northeast	2001-07-04	17	Male	In Water	Direct

What these are

High Surf: Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.

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, July 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: 5260061.