Funnel Cloud in Puerto Rico, July 12, 2002

Name: Funnel Cloud in Puerto Rico, July 12, 2002
Start: 2002-07-12T15:15
End: 2002-07-12T15:25
Location: Puerto Rico

July 12, 2002 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A Private Meteorologist and several people spotted a few funnel clouds in the vicinity of Rio Piedras sector and Guaynabo.

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 Private Meteorologist and several people spotted a few funnel clouds in the vicinity of Rio Piedras sector and Guaynabo.

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 12, 10:00 AM AST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 12, 10:00 AM AST, 5 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
1000 AM AST FRI JUL 12 2002

GUIDANCE SEEMS TO HAVE CHANGED SIGNIFICANTLY THIS MORNING...AND
BASED ON MORNING SATELLITE AND DOPPLER RADAR IMAGERY HAVE UPDATED
ENTIRE FORECAST PACKAGE. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INCHING INTO THE
VIRGIN ISLANDS WILL SLOWLY MOVE WEST NORTHWEST THROUGH THIS
AFTERNOON TO SPREAD INTO PUERTO RICO AND THE LOCAL MARINE AREA.
ATMOSPHERIC CONDITION NOT EXPLOSIVELY UNSTABLE...BUT ISOLATED TO
WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS AND SQUALLS EXPECTED THROUGH THIS
EVENING AS STRONG LOW LEVEL FORCING AND ABUNDANT MOISTURE PROVIDE
INSTABILITY ACROSS THE REGION. HAVE ADJUSTED MARINE SYNOPSIS TO
BRING IN THE NEXT WAVE SUNDAY...AS SUGGESTED BY THE AVN.

EQUIPMENT: WSR 88-D UPS OTS AND NOW USING BACKUP GENERATOR WHICH IS
PRODUCING AN UNSTABLE POWER OUTPUT...CAUSING OCCASIONAL
COMMUNICATIONS LOSSES. FAA TECHS AWARE OF SITUATION.

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

STRIPLING

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 SITE AT:

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

Event by event

1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, San Juan and Vicinity

When: July 12, 3:15 PM AST to 3:25 PM AST
Where: San Juan and Vicinity County, San Juan
Reported by: METEOROLOGIST(NON NWS)

What these are

Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Puerto Rico, July 2002

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: 5314487.