Heavy rains, locally exceeding 5 inches, fell across western portions of Puerto Rico this week. This led to improvements in streamflow and the alleviation of crop stress and short-term precipitation deficits. Therefore, moderate drought in northwest Puerto Rico was removed, and abnormal dryness coverage was reduced. Aside from a few stations, temperatures in Puerto Rico this week were mostly 1-4 degrees warmer than normal.

This week, near-normal conditions continued across the U.S. Virgin Islands. St. John experienced its third-wettest April since 2007, with rainfall amounts from April 1-29 up to 6.86 inches. This is also the third-wettest January to April period on record (1984-2024) at Windswept Beach, with 15.28 inches recorded. On St. John, rainfall amounts reported between 1.2 to 3.2 inches for a total of 3.23 inches of rain during the USDM week. The depth to water level at Susannaberg in St. John on April 30 was 10.71 ft below land surface, an improvement of 0.94 ft this week due to the recent rains maintaining drought-free conditions on St. John.

On St. Croix, precipitation was observed this week. The weekly rainfall amount across the island ranged from 0.24 to 2.43 inches. Due to these rains in recent days, the depth to water level at Adventure 28 Well in St. Croix improved by1.4 feet from April 23-30, from 27.94 to 26.54 feet below land surface. Thus, St. Croix remained drought free.

On St. Thomas, heavy rainfall fell this week, ranging from 1.11 inches to 5.30 inches. Despite recent rains, the depth to water level in the island’s Grade School 3 well on April 30 was 8.35 ft below land surface, steady from last week (8.52 ft). Despite the heavy rain that fell this week, St. Thomas remained in abnormally dry conditions (D0) this week due to lingering longer-term dryness.

Full Summary