Name: Funnel Cloud in Puerto Rico, September 19, 2002
Start: 2002-09-19T15:00
End: 2002-09-19T15:15
Location: Puerto Rico

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 funnel cloud was observed in the vicinity of Rio Piedras sector.

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 Sep 19, 2:00 PM AST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 19, 2:00 PM AST, 1 hour before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
200 PM AST THU SEP 19 2002

THERE IS NO CHANGES FROM THIS MORNING RESONING. MODELS THETA-E, PW,
AND RH FIELDS SUGGEST A LOW LEVEL MOISTURE UP TO 700 HPA TONIGHT AND
FRIDAY...SHALLOWER MOISTURE THROUGH SUNDAY...AND AN INCREASE IN
UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. MODELS AND SATELLITE
DERIVED WINDS CONTINUED SHOWING LOW LEVEL WIND FLOW NEAR CALM TO
LIGHT MAINLY SOUTH THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY...BECOMING GENTLE FROM THE
EAST SOUTHEAST SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY. MID LEVEL TROUGH
EXTENDING FROM TROPICAL STORM JOSEPHINE SOUTHWEST TO THE NORTHEAST
CARIBBEAN WILL PRODUCE A MID LEVEL WEST SOUTHWEST WIND FLOW...PER
12Z SOUNDING...ACROSS THE LOCAL AREA THROUGH SATURDAY.

THESE CONDITIONS WILL ALLOW FOR THE SEA BREEZE EFFECTS TO DOMINATE
COASTAL WINDS FLOW TO PRODUCE STRONG CONVECTION WITH HEAVY RAINS
ALONG THE INTERIOR...NORTHERN SLOPES...AND NORTHEAST SECTIONS OF
PUERTO RICO DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. THESE SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE VERY SLOW ALLOWING FOR RAINFALL
ACCUMULATIONS FROM ONE TO THREE INCHES IN A SHORT PERIODS OF TIME.
HIGH TEMPERATURE WILL CLIMB TO AROUND NEAR 90 DEGREES BEFORE CLOUDS
DEVELOP. AN INCREASE IN AFTERNOON SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORMS ACTIVITY
IS EXPECTED ON FRIDAY. SUNNY MORNINGS AND MOSTLY CLEAR NIGHT WILL
PREVAIL THROUGH SATURDAY.

SOILS ACROSS MANY PARTS OF PUERTO RICO CONTINUE JUST BELOW
SATURATION THUS ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL WILL PRODUCE SOILS TO
SATURATE AND WILL PRODUCE FLOODING PROBLEMS AND MUDSLIDES OVER AREAS
OF STEEP TERRAIN. WILL CLOSELY MONITOR DOPPLER RADAR...RAIN AND
RIVER GAUGES TO ISSUE FLASH FLOOD ADVISORIES...WATCHES AND/OR
WARNINGS IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.

SMOOTH SEA CONDITIONS WILL ALSO CONTINUE UNDER A LIGHT SOUTH
SOUTHEAST TO NEAR CALM WINDS.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS:
SJU WW 076/087 076/089 076 55363
STT BB 078/087 079/087 079 55344

EQUIPMENT: NO PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.

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

ROCHE

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: September 19, 3:00 PM AST to 3:15 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

More

Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Puerto Rico, September 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: 5320156.