1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 Aug 23, 3:15 PM AST, 41 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 315 PM AST SAT AUG 23 2003 MODEL GUIDANCE HAS CHANGED LITTLE FROM THIS MORNINGS RUNS...SO THEREFORE AM MAKING LITTLE CHANGES TO THE GOING FORECAST. DRIER AIR UPSTREAM WILL MAKE ITS WAY INTO THE LOCAL AREA TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. NEXT HIGH AMPLITUDE TROPICAL WAVE CROSSES THE LOCAL AREA SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. MOISTURE WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE AREA BEHIND THIS WAVES AXIS...INCREASING CHANCES FOR RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY EAST. OPTICAL THICKNESS IMAGERY SHOWS A NARROW BAND OF HAZE BEHIND THIS WAVE...SO ADDED HAZY WORDING TO FORECAST FOR MONDAY IN ANTICIPATION OF HAZY CONDITIONS THEN. ANOTHER MORE ORGANIZED WAVE/DISTURBANCE...WILL FOLLOW ON ITS HEALS...AFFECTING THE LOCAL AREA WITH DEEPER MOISTURE BY TUESDAY. THIS WAVE/DISTURBANCE...IS NOW CENTERED ALONG 48 WEST...WITH CONVECTION FLARING UP AT AROUND 12 DEGREES NORTH. THE QUICKSCAT PASS THIS MORNING SHOWED A BROAD CIRCULATION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE...AND THE 12Z GFS MODEL RUN INITIALIZED A CLOSED LOW AT THIS LOCATION. HOWEVER...THE GFS IMMEDIATELY OPENS THIS UP INTO A BROAD WAVE TONIGHT AND THROUGH ITS JOURNEY TOWARD THE AREA. THE LATEST UKMET DOES THE SAME. SO...DESPITE WHAT SEEMS TO BE FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR SOME DEVELOPMENT...AM INCLINED TO BELIEVE AT THIS POINT THAT WE WILL BE DEALING WITH ONLY A WAVE. OF COURSE...AS ALWAYS...OUR EYES STAY OPEN. MARINE CONDITIONS WILL CHANGE LITTLE OVER THE NEXT FIVE DAYS...WITH SEAS GENERALLY RANGING FROM 2 TO 4 FEET AND WIND MAINLY IN THE 10 TO 17 KNOT RANGE. /GREGORIA SJU... .PR...NONE. .VI...NONE. EQUIPMENT...NO PROBLEMS.
PRZ001>013-VIZ001-002-AMZ710>750-232200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 615 AM AST SAT AUG 23 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PUERTO RICO. .TODAY AND TONIGHT...A STRONG TROPICAL WAVE...THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION NINE...LOCATED OVER THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC EARLY THIS SATURDAY MORNING...WILL MOVE SLOWLY WEST NORTHWEST AND AWAY FROM THE LOCAL AREA THROUGH TONIGHT. HOWEVER...MOISTURE LEFT BEHIND THIS SYSTEM WILL COMBINE WITH LOCAL EFFECTS AND FAVORABLE UPPER LEVEL CONDITIONS THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING...TO PRODUCE SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER PARTS OF PUERTO RICO. THESE SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL BE MOST PREVALENT OVER THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN INTERIOR AND NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF PUERTO RICO THIS AFTERNOON. ALTHOUGH NO SIGNIFICANT FLOODING IS EXPECTED...A FEW LOCATIONS WILL RECEIVE ENOUGH RAINFALL TO RESULT IN SOME URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING...WITH LOCALIZED FLASH OR RIVER FLOODING POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY. .SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. .TODAY AND TONIGHT...A STRONG TROPICAL WAVE...THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION NINE...LOCATED OVER THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC EARLY THIS SATURDAY MORNING...WILL MOVE SLOWLY WEST NORTHWEST AND AWAY FROM THE LOCAL AREA THROUGH TONIGHT. HOWEVER...MOISTURE LEFT BEHIND THIS SYSTEM WILL COMBINE WITH LOCAL EFFECTS AND FAVORABLE UPPER LEVEL CONDITIONS THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING...TO PRODUCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM OR TWO ACROSS THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. ALTHOUGH NO SIGNIFICANT FLOODING IS EXPECTED...A COUPLE OF LOCATIONS COULD RECEIVE ENOUGH RAINFALL TO RESULT IN SOME URBAN AND GUT FLOODING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. .SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. 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.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A stationary thunderstorm with heavy rain was reported 4 miles southwest of Lares. Police reported that a small stream that flows into river Guajataca went out of its banks flooding a house. The U.SG.S. river level sensor indicated the Lares river had risen six feet above flood stage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Puerto Rico, August 2003
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: 5377694.