Thunderstorm Wind — Marshall Islands, Guam

2024-09-01 · near Jaluit, Marshall Islands, Guam

Event narrative

On September 1st, people on Jaluit Atoll, within the Marshall islands, reported damage due to a brief period of strong winds. Satellite imagery around the estimated time of damage, which was between 1200LST (1000ChST) and 1300LST (1100ChST), showed building cumulus and cumulonimbus near the atoll, suggesting the potential of a gust front or outflow boundary causing the damage. A Marshallese governmental PMU unit did an assessment and found 8 homes and 3 churches were damaged and initial reports suggest 43.3 Thousand $USD will be allocated to support the affected community. Photos taken of the damage showed tin roofs that were nailed to simple structures were either stripped off the roof or one side of the tin roof remained attached and the rest was rolled up by the wind. A few broadleaf (palm) trees were also shown to be blown down by the winds. Initial reports from Jaluit speculated that the damage was done by a tornado or waterspout. However, statements from the atoll do not mention a funnel or waterspout being reported, and some reports conflicting information. Some reported blues and then it suddenly became windy, while others said it was cloudy and raining when the strong winds occurred. Since there are no firm statements of anyone claiming to have seen a funnel or waterspout, and damage reports cannot conclusively support a tornado or waterspout, this event is currently contributed to thunderstorms winds (outflow) though a tornado/waterspout cannot be ruled out completely.

Wider weather episode

On September 1st, people on Jaluit Atoll reported damage due to a brief period of strong winds. Satellite imagery around the estimated time of damage, showed building cumulus and cumulonimbus near the atoll.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (5.7914, 169.6071)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1219678. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.