Flash Flood in U.S. Virgin Islands, December 12, 2003

Name: Flash Flood in U.S. Virgin Islands, December 12, 2003
Start: 2003-12-12T12:17
End: 2003-12-12T15:00
Location: U.S. Virgin Islands

December 12, 2003 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Croix during the late morning and early afternoon. Flooded streets and guts approaching bankfull were reported in in Fredericksted.

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.

Heavy rains were reported along the central and west part of St.Croix during the late morning and early afternoon. Flooded streets and guts approaching bankfull were reported in in Fredericksted.

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 Dec 12, 11:51 AM AST, 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 12, 11:51 AM AST, 26 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 12, 6:20 AM AST, 5 hours 57 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
620 AM AST FRI DEC 12 2003

PRZ001>013-AMZ710>750-122200-
620 AM AST FRI DEC 12 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PUERTO RICO.

.TODAY AND TONIGHT...A DECREASE IN CLOUDINESS WILL ALLOW SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM OVER THE WESTERN SECTION OF PUERTO RICO THIS
AFTERNOON. SOME OF THESE SHOWERS WILL BE HEAVY AND RAINFALL AMOUNTS
WILL LIKELY EXCEED FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE IN THE INTERIOR MOUNTAINS OF
THE WEST. URBAN AND SMALL STREAM ADVISORIES WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO BE
ISSUED.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY.

.FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...THE PROXIMITY OF A SURFACE TROUGH AND A
WEAK UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL PRODUCE OCCASIONAL EARLY MORNING AND
AFTERNOON SHOWERS ALONG PORTIONS OF THE INTERIOR...NORTHEAST AND
EAST COAST OF THE ISLAND FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. LOCAL FLOODING WILL BE
POSSIBLE IN THE WESTERN INTERIOR EACH DAY.

VIZ001-002-AMZ720-730-122200-
620 AM AST FRI DEC 12 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS.

.TODAY AND TONIGHT...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY.

.FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...OCCASIONAL EARLY MORNING AND ISOLATED
AFTERNOON SHOWERS WILL OCCUR ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE LOCAL ISLANDS
EACH DAY. HOWEVER NO SIGNIFICANT FLOODING PROBLEMS ARE ANTICIPATED.

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 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, St. Croix

When: December 12, 12:17 PM AST to 3:00 PM AST
Where: St. Croix County, St. Croix
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in U.S. Virgin Islands in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in U.S. Virgin Islands, December 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5328271.