Tropical Storm — Saipan, Guam

2015-03-15 to 2015-03-16 · Saipan, Guam

Event narrative

Tropical Storm Bavi continued to travel west and eventually threatened the Marianas.

Upper-level wind shear caused the storm to decouple resulting in the low-level circulation passing across Guam on the night of the 15th. A band of showers associated with the system moved far to the north over Tinian and Saipan.

Tropical Storm Bavi caused sporadic power outages and minor tree damage on Tinian and Saipan.

The rain band that moved across Tinian and Saipan on the 15th, combined with a pressure gradient between Bavi and high pressure to the north of the rain band, generated high winds across these islands.

On Tinian the highest sustained wind was 66 mph at 1650 ChST and the highest gust observed was 69 mph at 1630 ChST. The lowest Sea Level Pressure recorded at an automated weather observing station was 997.3 hPa. The same automated weather observing station recorded 4.69 inches of rain from the 15th through the 16th.

On Saipan the highest sustained wind speed and gust was recorded at the airport on the 15th. The maximum sustained wind was 46 mph at 1734 ChST and the highest gust was 72 mph observed at 1604 ChST. Rainfall for The 15th at the airport was 3.03 inches while 3.69 inches was reported at Capital Hill.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Bavi (03W) moved across Micronesia between March 11th and March

16th. The storm did cause some damages across the region and may have sunk an 83-foot fishing vessel.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 579256. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.