Drought — Marshall Islands, Guam

2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Marshall Islands, Guam

Event narrative

On April 9th, Wotje and nearby islands of the northern RMI degraded from extreme (D3) to exceptional (D4) drought while Majuro degraded from severe (D2) to extreme (D3). Ailinglapalap also went from abnormally dry (D0) to moderate (D1) drought on April 9th, but quickly returned to abnormally dry on April 16th. Kwajalein remained in moderate drought (D1) through the whole month. Trade-wind disturbances started to increase across the central and southern islands of the RMI in the second half of April, causing Majuro to drop to from D3 to D2 April 23, and then to D1 April 30th. Wotje and nearby northern islands remained at D4 through the end of April. Main impacts continued to be the shortage of drinking water and the need of water deliveries for Wotje and nearby northern islands.

Wider weather episode

Drought impacts persisted across Yap State, the Marianas, and the Northern Marshall Islands as the dry season continued along with the dry phase of El Nio, especially for the islands near and north of 7N.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1175551. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.