Drought — Saipan, Guam

2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Saipan, Guam

Event narrative

For the past several months, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has not recorded the approximately 4 inches of rain needed for the water budget to keep up with environmental and human demand. Since early December to early May, the international airport at Saipan has recorded 10.36 inches of rain, nearly 5 inches below normal. For the month of May, Tinian received 3.85 inches of rain while Saipan International Airport reported 1.90 inches and the rain gauge at Capital Hill on Saipan reported 2.23 inches. Saipan and Tinian would receive a one-category improvement from the US Drought Monitor team, despite little change in overall rainfall patterns, due to lower tourism and less planting of crops, which led to much much lower water demand for the islands.

Wider weather episode

For the past several months, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has not recorded the approximately 4 inches of rain needed for the water budget to keep up with environmental and human demand. Since early December to early May, the international airport at Saipan has recorded 10.36 inches of rain, nearly 5 inches below normal. Saipan and Tinian would receive a one-category improvement from the US Drought Monitor team, despite little change in overall rainfall patterns, due to lower tourism and less planting of crops, which led to much much lower water demand for the islands.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1274700. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.