Guam, 2003

Lightning Strike in Guam, August 13, 2003

August 13, 2003 · NWS GUA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Lightning on the afternoon of the 13th tripped circuits in four of Guam Waterworks Authority's wells on Route 15 in Yigo and Mangilao, shutting down the four wells. The wells were fully restored to service a few days later.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
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 GUA wrote it up.

Lightning on the afternoon of the 13th tripped circuits in four of Guam Waterworks Authority's wells on Route 15 in Yigo and Mangilao, shutting down the four wells. The wells were fully restored to service a few days later.

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 GUA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 3:36 AM SST, 7 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 3:36 AM SST, 7 hours 54 minutes before
AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
1 AM GUAM LST THU AUG 14 2003

WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180.

AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH RUNS EAST-NORTHEASTWARD FROM 14N148E THROUGH
THREE UPPER LEVEL LOWS...THE FIRST LOCATED NEAR 17N151E...THE SECOND
NEAR 21N163E AND THE THIRD NEAR 22N178W. THE UPPER-LEVEL LOW LOCATED
NEAR 17N151E...EAST OF THE MARIANAS...IS PRODUCING ISOLATED SHOWERS
AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE MARIANAS.

THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH COMBINED WITH A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE LOCATED
NEAR 6N156E IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
OVER POHNPEI AND CHUUK BETWEEN 5N AND 12N FROM 147E TO 162E.

A WEAK MONSOON TROUGH IS RESULTING IN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS NORTH
OF YAP AND PALAU BETWEEN 11N TO 25N FROM 130E AND 143E.

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Guam

When
August 13, 11:30 AM SST to 2:00 PM SST
Where
Guam County, Countywide
Property damage
$10,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

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 Guam in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, August 2003

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: 5338995.