Drought — Saipan, Guam

2024-06-01 to 2024-06-18 · Saipan, Guam

Event narrative

Saipan and Tinian started June in extreme (D3) drought and improved to severe (D2) drought June 11th, and further improving to moderate (D1) June 18th and then abnormally dry (D0) June 25th. Both islands met or exceeded the 1 inch weekly minimum rainfall t meet water needs. Saipan International airport ended JUne with 7.71 inches of rain, while Tinian airport ended the month with 6.96 inches. Vegetation also became greener, after yellowing in May.

Wider weather episode

Greatest impacts from the drought created by the dry season and dry phase of the waning El Nio continued to be the greatest across islands near and north of 8N, especially across Yap State. In June, CPC announced that El Nio and transitioned to ENSO-neutral. Rainfall increased across the Marianas as the region entered a more typical summer pattern with the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough (TUTT) extending across the central and west Pacific.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1196394. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.