High Surf, North Central
- When
- March 22, 4:00 PM AST to 5:00 PM AST
- Where
- North Central County, Vega Baja
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
High Surf in Puerto Rico, March 22, 2002
Three people were on the reef away from the shore when large breaking waves swept them away. A 16 year old man drowned while the others were rescued.
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.
Three people were on the reef away from the shore when large breaking waves swept them away. A 16 year old man drowned while the others were rescued.
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 Mar 22, 3:25 PM AST, 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 22, 3:25 PM AST, 35 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 325 PM AST FRI MAR 22 2002 NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED IN THE LATEST MODEL GUIDANCE...SO WILL REHASH SOME OF THE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION. THE CONVERGENCE OF LOW LEVEL FLOW AROUND THE LOW LEVEL RIDGE CONTINUES TO GENERATE CLOUDINESS JUST TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA. THE CONTINUOUS CONVERGENCE GENERATES NEW CLOUDINESS. BUT AS THE SURFACE LOW OVER THE WESTERN ATLANTIC STARTS TO WEAKEN THE MID ATLANTIC RIDGE...THE AREA OF CONVERGENCE OVER THE REGION SHOULD START TO DRIFT TO THE NORTHEAST AND DISSIPATE. SATELLITE IMAGERY SEEMS TO SUGGEST THIS ALREADY. WHILE THERE ARE STRONG UPPER LEVEL WINDS...THE COMBINATION OF MORE STABLE MID LEVELS AND LACK OF SUFFICIENT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL INHIBIT THE CHANCES OF CONVECTION FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. THE LOW LEVEL RIDGE WILL KEEP THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE SUPPLY TO THE WEST OF THE REGION...AND THE TROUGH ENTERING INTO THE ATLANTIC WILL NOT BE SUFFICIENT TO BREAK DOWN THE HIGH AND ALLOW ANY SURGE OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE. BUT MONDAY MAY SEE A CHANGE IF THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE MAKES IT INTO THE NORTHEAST CARIBBEAN AS THE MODELS SUGGEST IT MIGHT. NEW MARINE GUIDANCE STILL HAS BUILDING LARGE NORTHEAST SWELLS...BUT NOT AS IMPRESSIVE AS PREVIOUS GUIDANCE. HOWEVER...SEAS IN ATLANTIC AND CARIBBEAN PASSAGES CAN STILL REACH NEAR 8 FEET AND IS LONG PERIOD OF ALMOST 14 SECONDS...WHICH CAN GENERATE LARGE BREAKING WAVES. THEREFORE...WILL CONTINUE WITH SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES FOR ALL ATLANTIC WATERS...AND ALL CARIBBEAN PASSAGES. A HEAVY SURF ADVISORY CONTINUES TO BE IN EFFECT. EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME. DIEHL 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 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
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, North Central | 2002-03-22 | 16 | 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
- Avalanche in Idaho, March 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in Ohio, March 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, March 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in New York, March 22 to 23, 2002
- Flooding in Kentucky, March 22 to 31, 2002
- Heavy Snow in California, March 22 to 23, 2002
- High Wind in Georgia, March 22, 2002
- Winter Storm in West Virginia, March 22, 2002
- Winter Storm in Pennsylvania, March 22, 2002
- Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in California, March 22 to 24, 2002
- Marine Thunderstorm Winds in North Atlantic Coastal Waters, March 22, 2002
- Heavy Snow in California, March 22 to 23, 2002
More
Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Puerto Rico, March 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: 5285722.