Tropical Storm, Micronesia
- When
- July 18, 12:00 AM SST to July 19, 12:00 AM SST
- Where
- Micronesia forecast zone
- Property damage
- $75,000
- Crop damage
- $20,000
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Tropical Storm in Guam, July 18 to 19, 2003
On the evening of the July 14th a weak circulation was noted on scattereometer near 4N 155E or 320 miles southeast of Chuuk. During the evening of the 16th a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert was issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $75,000
- Crop damage
- $20,000
- 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.
On the evening of the July 14th a weak circulation was noted on scattereometer near 4N 155E or 320 miles southeast of Chuuk. During the evening of the 16th a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert was issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. At that time the circulation was located near 5N 145E or 565 miles east-southeast of Yap. On the morning of the 17th the circulation had gained enough strength to become tropical depression 09W. At this time it was located about 375 miles east-southeast of Yap. On the morning of the 18th the tropical depression, located 150 miles southeast of Yap, under went further intensification and became Tropical Storm Imbudo. On the morning of the 18th the tropical storm passed 40 miles west-southwest of Ulithi and 30 miles north of Yap. The maximum sustained wind observed at Ulithi atoll was 39 mph from the southeast with a gust to 53 mph on the morning of the 18th.The maximum sustained wind observed at the WSO on Yap was 35 mph from the west-southwest with a gust to 63 mph during the afternoon of the 18th. On Ulithi 3.30 inches of rain was recorded in 24 hours. The lowest sea-level pressure was observed at Yap was 997.8 mb on the afternoon of the 18th.During the morning of the 18th 8.89 inches fell from 0400 to 1000 at Yap.
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 Jul 17, 4:06 PM SST, 7 hours 54 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 4:06 PM SST, 7 hours 54 minutes before
AREA SYNOPTIC DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 1 PM GUAM LST FRI JUL 18 2003 WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC BETWEEN EQUATOR AND 25N FROM 130E TO 180. TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO (09W) IS CENTERED NORTHWEST OF YAP NEAR 10N138E...MOVING WEST-NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 60 MPH. SEE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER BULLETIN WTPN32 PGTW AND NWS GUAM PUBLIC ADVISORY WTPQ32 PGUM FOR FURTHER DETAILS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH IMBUDO EXTEND ACROSS PALAU AND WESTERN YAP STATE BETWEEN 5N AND 15N FROM 130E AND 143E. CONVERGENT WESTERLY WINDS WELL SOUTH AND EAST OF IMBUDO ARE GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN THE EQUATOR AND 5N FROM 131E TO 147E. A WEAK CIRCULATION CENTERED NEAR 5N155E COMBINED WITH CONVERGING TRADE WINDS FARTHER EAST OF THE CIRCULATION CENTER IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MICRONESIA AND PORTIONS OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS OVER AND SOUTH OF CHUUK BETWEEN 1N AND 10N FROM 148E TO 155E...AND FROM 3N AND 10N FROM 157E TO 180. THIS INCLUDES CHUUK...POHNPEI AND KOSRAE STATES. A PAIR OF UPPER-LEVEL LOWS...ONE CENTERED NEAR 20N149E AND A SECOND NEAR 28N166E IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN 19N AND 25N FROM 147E TO 158E...AND WITHIN 150 MILES OF A LINE FROM 20N165E TO 25N173E RESPECTIVELY.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 17, 9:31 PM SST, 2 hours 29 minutes before
PMZ161-171-181800- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 630 PM GUAM LST FRI JUL 18 2003 ...TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO TO BRING GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN TO PALAU AND NGULU... AT 4 PM GUAM LST...TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 60 MPH...WAS CENTERED ABOUT 300 MILES NORTHEAST OF KOROR AND 125 MILES NORTH OF NGULU. IMBUDO MADE ITS CLOSEST APPROACH TO YAP AROUND NOON AND WILL INTENSIFY INTO A TYPHOON BY SATURDAY MORNING. WATCHES AND WARNINGS CONTINUE TO BE ISSUED FOR YAP...BUT HAVE BEEN CANCELED FOR ULITHI AND SOROL. SEE TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO LOCAL STATEMENT (WTPQ82 PGUM) FOR FURTHER DETAILS. FOR NGULU IN YAP STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF PALAU FROM ANGAUR NORTHEASTWARD...EXPECT MONSOON WESTERLY WINDS TO REMAIN AROUND 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS REACHING 25 TO 35 MPH IN HEAVIER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH SUNDAY. RAINFALL TOTALS UP TO 4 INCHES EACH DAY ARE POSSIBLE. ROUGH SEAS AND HAZARDOUS SURF WILL ALSO AFFECT NGULU AND PALAU OVER THE WEEKEND. SEE THE LATEST HIGH SURF ADVISORY (FZPQ70 PGUM) AND COASTAL ZONE FORECAST (FZPQ50 PGUM) FOR FURTHER DETAILS. RESIDENTS OF YAP STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF PALAU SHOULD CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR WEATHER BULLETINS FROM LOCAL WEATHER OFFICES AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS FROM EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS. PRIOR
Special weather statement, Jul 17, 9:45 PM SST, 2 hours 15 minutes before
PMZ161-171-181800- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU 630 PM GUAM LST FRI JUL 18 2003 CORRECTED TO USE MOST RECENT DISTANCES ...TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO TO BRING GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN TO PALAU AND NGULU... AT 4 PM GUAM LST...TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 60 MPH...WAS CENTERED ABOUT 270 MILES NORTHEAST OF KOROR AND 130 MILES NORTH-NORTHWEST OF NGULU. IMBUDO MADE ITS CLOSEST APPROACH TO YAP AROUND NOON AND WILL INTENSIFY INTO A TYPHOON BY SATURDAY MORNING. WATCHES AND WARNINGS CONTINUE TO BE ISSUED FOR YAP...BUT HAVE BEEN CANCELED FOR ULITHI AND SOROL. SEE TROPICAL STORM IMBUDO LOCAL STATEMENT (WTPQ82 PGUM) FOR FURTHER DETAILS. FOR NGULU IN YAP STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF PALAU FROM ANGAUR NORTHEASTWARD...EXPECT MONSOON WESTERLY WINDS TO REMAIN AROUND 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS REACHING 25 TO 35 MPH IN HEAVIER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH SUNDAY. RAINFALL TOTALS UP TO 4 INCHES EACH DAY ARE POSSIBLE. ROUGH SEAS AND HAZARDOUS SURF WILL ALSO AFFECT NGULU AND PALAU OVER THE WEEKEND. SEE THE LATEST HIGH SURF ADVISORY (FZPQ70 PGUM) AND COASTAL ZONE FORECAST (FZPQ50 PGUM) FOR FURTHER DETAILS. RESIDENTS OF YAP STATE AND THE REPUBLIC OF PALAU SHOULD CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR WEATHER BULLETINS FROM LOCAL WEATHER OFFICES AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS FROM EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS. PRIOR
Event by event
1 tropical storm. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tropical Storm
- A tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph).
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, July 18, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, July 18, 2003
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Georgia, July 18, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Pennsylvania, July 18, 2003
- Hail in Iowa, July 18, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Wind in North Carolina, July 18, 2003
- Damaging Wind in South Carolina, July 18, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Missouri, July 18 to 19, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Arkansas, July 18 to 19, 2003
- Tornado in North Dakota, July 18, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, July 18, 2003
- Flash Flood and Hail in Mississippi, July 18 to 19, 2003
More
Every storm in Guam in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, July 2003The 2003 hurricane season
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: 5367318.