Drought · Guam

Saipan started June at D2 (Severe) drought, but by June 17th, only an average of 1.3 inches had fallen for the month of June, so Saipan saw a short-term degradation from D2 to D3 (Extreme) drought that could continue through the end of the month. Saipan airport ended June with 5.12 inches of rain, with Capital Hill ending with 9.19 inches. For both locations, over half this rain fell within the last 5 day of the month. In previous Drought Monitor analysis, Tinian was always grouped with Saipan due to the island's proximity to Saipan. However, starting on June 10th, the Drought Monitor started to do a separate analysis for Tinian. For the first week of analysis, Tinian saw 2.62 inches of rain and was rated at D1 (Moderate) drought. By June 24th, Tinian degraded to D2 (Severe) drought as nine of the last 12 weeks had rainfall totals less than one-half inch. Tinian would end June with 5.67 inches.

Increased rainfall led to improving drought conditions across Guam and Rota, while a period of drier weather led to short-term degradation for Tinian and Saipan.