SAIPAN, 01 JUNE 2020 (MARIANAS VARIETY) — There have been some improvements to the drought situation across Yap, the northern islands of Chuuk, and the northern part of the Marshalls but it appears the CNMI still has a few more days of drought conditions ahead of it.
According to a National Weather Service forecast that was released Friday by the Emergency Operations Center-State Warning Point in the CNMI, drought conditions could still worsen across the CNMI the next couple weeks as less-than-adequate rainfall is expected.
However, it added that official’s report water levels are still above thresholds for concern.
It said that the CNMI has been anchored in a very dry trade-wind pattern for several months now. As assessed by the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands-U.S. Drought Monitor team, Saipan’s Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport has had the driest May, April-May, March-May, February-May and January-May on record.
Numerical models indicate only a half inch to an inch of rain is expected on Rota, Tinian and Saipan over the next 10 days. Other than spotty, light showers, a couple weak disturbances will be the main source for showers.
A weak disturbance this last weekend of May, and another toward the end of next week could bring much-needed showers to the Marianas. Models still place more rainfall to the south over Guam, but with 10-day totals only around an inch. Depending on the evolution of these weak disturbances and any upper-level support, some areas could see locally higher amounts of rainfall.
In Guam, weak disturbances have provided showers for the island recently, with above normal rainfall occurring during the month of May 2020.
On other parts of the Pacific, a wet trade-wind pattern continues to provide steady showers to islands between 4N and 8N across the region. Showers are gradually returning to islands near 10N with the northward shift in low-level convergence and the seasonal return of the tropical upper-tropospheric trough…. PACNEWS