Lightning, Ponce and Vicinity
- When
- November 3, 7:00 PM AST to 7:20 PM AST
- Where
- Ponce and Vicinity County, Penuelas
- Property damage
- $5,000
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
Lightning Strike in Puerto Rico, November 3, 2002
Lightning struck a house in Penuelas causing some structural damage and injuring a child when a light bulb exploded.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- 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 house in Penuelas causing some structural damage and injuring a child when a light bulb exploded.
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 Nov 3, 4:02 PM AST, 2 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 3, 4:02 PM AST, 2 hours 58 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 402 PM AST SUN NOV 3 2002 WEAK TROPICAL WAVE LOCATED OVER EASTERN PUERTO RICO LATE THIS AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE MOVING WEST NORTHWEST ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE LOCAL AREA TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY MONDAY. UPPER LEVEL LOW EAST OF LEEWARD ISLANDS WILL DRIFT WEST...THEN SOUTHWEST...SOUTH AND WEAKEN DURING THE NEXT 24 TO 48 HOURS...WITH LITTLE EFFECT ON LOCAL WEATHER. EXPECT TROPICAL WAVE AND ITS ASSOCIATED MOISTURE TO COMBINE WITH LOCAL EFFECTS TONIGHT AND MONDAY...TO PRODUCE A GOOD DEAL OF CLOUDINESS...SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS OVER PARTS OF THE LOCAL ISLANDS. DRIER WEATHER APPEARS ON TAP FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY...AS MID LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE TAKES CONTROL OF LOCAL WEATHER. ALTHOUGH MY TIMING IN AFD YESTERDAY WAS TERRIBLE...STILL LOOKS LIKE NEXT TROPICAL WAVE CURRENTLY NEAR 55 WEST...WILL BE NEXT WEATHER MAKER OUTSIDE OF DIURNAL/NOCTURNAL FORCING. EXPECT WAVE WILL MOVE WEST NORTHWEST TOWARD THE LESSER ANTILLES MONDAY...THEN MOVE ACROSS THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY...AND THEN ACROSS OR JUST SOUTH OF THE LOCAL ISLANDS LATER TUESDAY THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY. FOR COASTAL WATERS...EXPECT WIND TO BE AROUND 15 KNOTS OR LESS AND SEAS 6 FEET OR LESS THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. NORTH SWELLS STILL ON TAP...BEGINNING MONDAY AND PROBABLY PEAKING TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. PLEASE REFER TO ZFP AND CWF FOR FORECAST DETAILS. EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS. .SJU... .PR...NONE. .VI...NONE. SEELEY 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).
Hazardous weather outlook, Nov 3, 6:00 AM AST, 13 hours before
PRZ001>013-VIZ001-002-AMZ710>750-031400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 600 AM AST SUN NOV 3 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PUERTO RICO. .TODAY AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS INTERIOR AND WEST SECTIONS OF PUERTO RICO THIS AFTERNOON. ALSO A TROPICAL WAVE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE EAST SECTIONS OF PUERTO RICO LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT PRODUCING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. NO WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS EXPECTED. HOWEVER...LOCALIZED MINOR FLOODING IS POSSIBLE WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION NOT ANTICIPATED. .MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER MAINLY CENTRAL AND WESTERN AREAS OF PUERTO RICO EACH AFTERNOON. A MINOR URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING IS POSSIBLE IN A FEW AREAS EACH AFTERNOON. THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. .TODAY AND TONIGHT... A TROPICAL WAVE IS FORECAST TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THIS WAVE WILL CAUSE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE VICINITY OF THE ISLANDS. NO WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS EXPECTED. HOWEVER...LOCALIZED MINOR FLOODING IS POSSIBLE WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION NOT ANTICIPATED. .MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AT (ALL LOWERCASE LETTERS): HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/SJU.
Event by event
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
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 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Puerto Rico, November 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: 5321702.