Name: Lightning Strike in Puerto Rico, July 7, 2002
Start: 2002-07-07T19:50
End: 2002-07-07T19:55
Location: Puerto Rico

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $3,000
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 SJU wrote it up.

Lightning struck a utility pole and knocked it down at Culebrinas sector in San Sebastian.

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 7, 3:00 PM AST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 7, 3:00 PM AST, 4 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
300 PM AST SUN JUL 07 2002

UPPER LEVEL LOW NORTH OF AREA AD WEAK SHORT WAVE THAT MOVED FROM
WEST TO EAST ALONG BOTTOM OF TROUGH ALLOWED FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL PART
OF PUERTO RICO AND EVEN INTO THE GUAYNABO TO TOA BAJA AREA... ELSE
WHERE SHOWERS REMAINED ISOLATED. A FEW LATE AFTERNOON SHOWERS TO BE
EXPECTED ALONG THE USVI AND EAST/SOUTHEAST PR WITH PREVAILING EAST
TO SOUTHEAST WINDS LOW LEVEL WINDS. THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF A DRY
SLOT APPROACHING THE USVI WHICH SHOULD GIVE THEM AT LEAST THRU 7 PM
MOSTLY DRY WEATHER AND THEN TO EAST PR TIL MIDNIGHT.

AVN MODEL CONTINUES TO TRACK WESTWARD THE  CLUSTER OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEAST CARIBBEAN ASSOCIATED WITH
ITCZ DISTURBANCE AHEAD OF TROPICAL WAVE AXIS. TWDAT PLACES WAVE AXIS
ALONG 61 WEST THIS AFTERNOON BUT 700 MB 12Z STREAMLINE ANALYSIS
COULD PUT WAVE FURTHER EAST OF 60 WEST. NO REFLECTION AT 850 MB
EITHER. MY ANALYSIS SHOWS SOME NEGATIVE TILTING TO WAVE WHICH WOULD
MAKE IT CONSISTENT WITH WEATHER AREA AHEAD OF IT OVER SOUTHEAST
CARIBBEAN AND NEXT SURGE OF MOISTURE TRACKING ALONG 55 WEST. WILL
FOLLOW CONTINUITY WITH PREVIOUS FORECAST AND MAINTAIN WAVE ARRIVAL
FOR LATE MONDAY INTO TUESDAY.

LOCAL AREA WILL REMAIN UNDER SHALLOW MOISTURE THIS EVENING BUT IT
SHOULD INCREASE OVERNIGHT. ON MONDAY WOULD EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. MODELS BRINGING  ADDITIONAL AND MORE
SIGNIFICANT MOISTURE ON TUESDAY WITH BETTER DYNAMICS FOR SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS AND AS UPPER LEVEL LOW WEAKENS AND EVOLVES INTO AN
OPEN TROUGH.

MARINE CONDITIONS...WIND AND SEAS EXPECTED TO INCREASE TO 20 KNOTS
TONIGHT INTO MONDAY. THESE CONDITIONS WILL ALLOW FOR CHOPPY SEAS AND
SEAS 4 TO 6 FT RANGE. PR4CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR ATLANTIC AND
CARIBBEAN COASTAL WATERS.

EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS.

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

MOJICA

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 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Western Interior

When: July 7, 7:50 PM AST to 7:55 PM AST
Where: Western Interior County, San Sebastian
Property damage: $3,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

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

More

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: 5314486.