Puerto Rico, 2009

Flood in Puerto Rico, June 3, 2009

June 3, 2009 · NWS SJU · 1 event in 1 county or zone

|Heavy rainfall affected the eastern coastal sections and the El Yunque area.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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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.

Moist east southeast low level wind flow combined with daytime heating and favorable winds at the upper levels to produce scattered to numerous showers across the area.|Heavy rainfall affected the eastern coastal sections and the El Yunque area.

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 Jun 3, 3:11 PM AST, 1 hour 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 3, 3:11 PM AST, 1 hour 46 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
311 PM AST WED JUN 3 2009

.SYNOPSIS...SEVERAL MID-UPPER LEVEL TROFS ONE WITH AXIS ALONG 60W
AND ANOTHER ONE ALONG 70W EXTENDING SOUTH FROM AN UPPER LOW NEAR
31N AND 70W WILL MOVE EAST NEXT 48 HRS WITH THE LATTER PUSHING EAST
OF 60W BY FRI AFTERNOON. MID-UPPER LVL RIDGING TO BUILD JUST W OF
THE AREA DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK.

&&

.DISCUSSION...WET PATTERN IN STORE FOR THE NEXT 24 HRS AS MID TO
UPPER LVL TROFS INTERACT WITH A VERY MOIST AIR MASS ACROSS THE
REGION. MICROWAVE IMAGERY SHOWS A PLUME OF 2.0+ PW AIR THAT
EXTENDS FROM THE ERN TIP OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC EAST THROUGH PR
AND THE LEEWARDS AND INTO THE ATLC EAST OF 55W.

BY FRI AFTERNOON...OP GFS AND GFES SHOW TROF AXIS ALONG 70W MOVING
EAST OF 60W WITH MID-LVL HIGH PRES OVR THE AREA AND UPPER LVL RIDGING
TRYING TO BUILD INTO THE AREA FROM THE WEST. THIS WOULD NORMALLY
TEND TO SUPPRESS CONVECTION...HOWEVER GFS INDICATES AIR MASS WILL
REMAIN QUITE MOIST WITH PWATS AROUND 2.0 INCHES THROUGH SAT. SO WITH
STRONG HEATING THIS TIME OF THE YEAR AS WE APPROACH THE SUMMER
SOLSTICE SCT AFTERNOON CONVECTION MAY STILL REMAIN POSSIBLE EACH
DAY BUT WITH LESS CVRG EXPECTED THAN TODAY AND TOMORROW.

HIGHLY AMPLIFIED TROPICAL WAVE ALONG 37 PER LATEST TPW AND IR
IMAGERY WILL MOVE WEST AND ENTER THE ERN CARIBBEAN SEA ON TUE BASED
ON LATEST 12Z GFS AND USING THE CLIMATOLOGICAL RATE OF 5 DEGS
LONGITUDE PER DAY. VERTICAL SHEAR TOO STRONG FOR ANY TC DEVELOPMENT
AND MID-UPPER LVL RIDGING EXPECTED TO BUILD OVER THE AREA NOT ALL
THAT CONDUCIVE TO A LOT OF WEATHER.

&&

.AVIATION...TEMPO MVFR CONDITIONS LIKELY AT ALL SITES...WITH A VCTS
GOING ON MOST AIRPORTS...WITH TSRA TEMPO IFR VIS AT TJSJ AN TJBQ
UNTIL ABOUT 21Z. AFTERWARD SHOULD GO VFR...WITH SOME PASSING MVFR
SHOWERS AFTER 04Z

&&

.MARINE...TRANQUIL MARINE CONDITIONS WITH WINDS 15 KT OR LESS AND
WAVES 3 TO 5 FT BUT LOCALLY HIGHER WINDS/WAVES POSSIBLE IN THE
VICINITY OF STRONGER TSTMS.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
SJU  76  83  76  87 /  60  60  30  40
STT  78  81  76  86 /  60  60  20  40

&&

.SJU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PR...NONE.
VI...NONE.
&&

93/64
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 3, 6:48 AM AST, 10 hours 9 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE U.S. VIRGIN
ISLANDS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
648 AM AST WED JUN 3 2009

AMZ710>745-PRZ001>013-041100-
SAN JUAN AND VICINITY-NORTHEAST-SOUTHEAST-EASTERN INTERIOR-
NORTH CENTRAL-CENTRAL INTERIOR-PONCE AND VICINITY-NORTHWEST-
WESTERN INTERIOR-MAYAGUEZ AND VICINITY-SOUTHWEST-CULEBRA-VIEQUES-
THE NEARSHORE AND OFF SHORE ATLANTIC AND CARIBBEAN COASTAL WATERS-
648 AM AST WED JUN 3 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE
ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
THE PREVAILING EAST SOUTHEAST TRADE WIND FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO
TRANSPORT CONSIDERABLE AMOUNTS OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ACROSS THE
REGION TODAY. THIS COMBINED WITH FAVORABLE UPPER LEVEL CONDITIONS...
LOCAL AND DIURNAL EFFECTS WILL ONCE AGAIN ...GIVE WAY TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PARTS OF
THE INTERIOR AND WEST SECTIONS OF PUERTO RICO. THESE STORMS WILL
PRODUCE PERIODS OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...SUDDEN WIND GUSTS...
WILL LEAD TO LOCALIZED URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY
ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION FOR THE NEXT
FEW DAYS...WILL COMBINE WITH DIURNAL AND LOCAL EFFECTS TO PRODUCE
SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PARTS OF THE INTERIOR
AND WEST SECTIONS OF PUERTO RICO...THEREFORE THE POTENTIAL FOR
LOCALIZED URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING AS WELL AS MUDSLIDES IN
AREAS OF STEEP TERRAIN WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST THROUGH THE END OF
THE WEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED...BUT RAINFALL REPORTS ARE
WELCOME.

AMZ715-725-VIZ001-002-041100-
ST. THOMAS ST. JOHN ADJACENT ISLANDS-ST CROIX-
NEARSHORE ATLANTIC AND ADJACENT CARIBBEAN COASTAL WATERS-
648 AM AST WED JUN 3 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND
THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
A MOIST EAST SOUTHEAST WIND FLOW ACROSS THE NORTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN...
WILL CONTINUE TO BRING SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
THE REGIONAL WATERS DURING THE DAY. SOME OF THE SHOWERS WILL PRODUCE
BRIEF PERIODS OF MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH WILL LEAD
TO MINOR FLOODING OF POORLY DRAINED AREAS AND PONDING OF WATERS ON
STREETS AND ROADWAYS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY
 NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Fajardo

When
June 3, 4:57 PM AST to 6:00 PM AST
Where
Fajardo County, 0.41 mi SSE of Fajardo to 0.49 mi SSW of Fajardo
Cause
Heavy Rain
Reported by
Emergency Manager
Coordinates
18.315, -65.647

River Fajardo was reported out of its banks along Highways PR-53 and PR-3, blocking traffic at Los Cilitos.

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Puerto Rico, June 2009

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: 178794.