Low relative humidity combined with very dry conditions at upper level of the atmosphere and dry fuels, ignite fires across the southeast section of Puerto Rico.
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 episode as NWS SJU wrote it up.
Low relative humidity combined with very dry conditions at upper level of the atmosphere and dry fuels, ignite fires across the southeast section of Puerto Rico.
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 Jan 20, 5:35 AM AST, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 535 AM AST FRI JAN 20 2012 .SYNOPSIS...AT UPPER LEVELS...THE AXIS OF A WEAK JET WILL PASS WITH A TROUGH DURING THE DAY TODAY. A SECOND STRONGER JET WILL PASS WITH A TROUGH ON MONDAY. HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN BEFORE SHIFTING TO THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN CARIBBEAN LATE IN THE MONTH. AT MID LEVELS...HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN CONTINUES INTO NEXT WEEK WHILE A TROUGH DIGS SOUTH OVER THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE EXTENDS TO EAST OF THE SOUTHERN BAHAMAS LATE NEXT WEEK. BEST MOISTURE AT MID LEVELS WILL BE TUESDAY WHEN AIR FROM THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC MOVES OVER THE AREA. AT LOWER LEVELS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO THE WESTERN ATLANTIC TODAY AND REMAIN THROUGH MOST OF NEXT WEEK. A BAND OF COOL MOIST AIR WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA FROM THE NORTHEAST ON TUESDAY...OTHERWISE TRADE WIND FLOW WILL DOMINATE THE WEATHER PATTERN FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH. && .DISCUSSION...VERY FEW SHOWERS FORMED IN THE NORTHEAST FLOW...BUT BETTER MOISTURE IS DEVELOPING JUST NORTHEAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS. THIS MOISTURE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND THEN PUERTO RICO TONIGHT. NORTHEAST TO EAST NORTHEAST FLOW CONTINUES AT LOWER LEVELS AND BRINGS SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR FROM THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC. ALL MODELS SHOW DECREASING 1000-850 MB THICKNESSES THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT WITH THE NAM12 BEING THE MOST PRONOUNCED OF ALL. BANDS OF MOISTURE CONTINUE TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA IN THIS FLOW THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK AND WILL BRING PERIODS OF SCATTERED SHOWERS TO THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND THE WINDWARD PORTIONS OF PUERTO RICO. WOULD EXPECT SOME DEVELOPMENT OF CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY IN THE SOUTHWEST THIS AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY AFTERNOON. OTHER DAYS DURING THE NEXT 7 WILL ALSO SEE POSSIBLE BUT LESS PRONOUNCED ACTIVITY THERE. ONLY ISOLATED SHOWERS TODAY...MAINLY ON THE NORTH COAST AND EARLY IN THE DAY. MORE SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT WHEN NEXT PATCH OF MOISTURE MOVES OVER THE AREA. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDS EXPECTED ACROSS ALL TAF SITES FOR THE NEXT 24 HRS WITH NO SIG WX. SURFACE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT AND VARIABLE IN THE EARLY MORNING BECOMING NORTHEASTERLY AT 5 TO 10 KNOTS WITH SEA BREEZE VARIATIONS AFTER 20/12Z. && .MARINE...MODELS ARE GENERALLY GUNG HO ON THE WINDS AND HAVE LOWERED EXPECTATIONS AREA-WIDE A FEW KNOTS. THIS WILL ALSO MEAN THAT SEAS WILL BE SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN MODEL FORECASTS. NEVERTHELESS...CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY ENTER SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LEVELS ON SUNDAY DUE TO INCREASING WINDS DRIVING SEAS TO 7 FEET AND CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL DAYS AFTERWARD. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SJU 81 71 80 71 / 30 50 40 30 STT 82 71 83 73 / 20 20 30 30 && .SJU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PR...NONE. VI...NONE. COASTAL WATERS...NONE. && 25/12
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR 543 AM AST FRI JAN 20 2012 AMZ710>745-PRZ001>013-211100- 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- 543 AM AST FRI JAN 20 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE ADJACENT ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. AMZ715-725-VIZ001-002-211100- ST. THOMAS ST. JOHN ADJACENT ISLANDS-ST CROIX- NEARSHORE ATLANTIC AND ADJACENT CARIBBEAN COASTAL WATERS- 543 AM AST FRI JAN 20 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A wildfire was reported at road PR-153 in thr municipality of Santa Isabel. Also another wildfire was reported in Villa Guamani in the municipality of Guayama.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Puerto Rico in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Puerto Rico, January 2012
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: 362398.