Conditions have been wet across most of Alaska this month, resulting in improvements to abnormal dryness (D0) in southeast Alaska this week.

In Hawaii, while showers were generally focused over windward coasts and slopes, strong trades allowed some showers to spill into leeward areas. Notably, Kauai and Oahu experienced enhanced showers during the first half of the week, leading to improvements on these islands. In contrast, Maui and the Big Island saw drought expansion due to missed precipitation, low streamflows, and declining vegetative health.

Flooding is more of a concern than dryness across American Samoa. At Pago Pago, just under 10 inches of rain fell this past week, bringing the May total to almost 16 inches with more than half of the month to go. Dryness does not look to be a problem in the near future.

In contrast, drought conditions persisted or deteriorated across the Northern Marianas. Saipan remained in extreme drought (D3) while Rota and Guam dropped into severe drought (D2) from moderate drought. Several wildfires have broken out on Guam, and farmers have reported serious crop stress in some areas. Anywhere from a few tenths of an inch to about half an inch fell on most of the region last week. Since the first of May, between 0.3 and 0.4 inch fell on Saipan and Guam while just over an inch was reported at Rota. Intense rainfall (near 17 to over 21 inches) pounded the island chain back in October 2024, but since then, rainfall has been much more sparse. Year-to-date rainfall at Rota is only 10.35 inches (normal 19.15) while Saipan recorded 10.85 inches since December (normal 15.5). Farther south, Guam has recorded 24.58 inches since November 2024 (normal 32.85). In all cases, this is considerably lower than the 4 or more inches considered ideal each month for keeping up with demand.

Across the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), areas of drought persisted on the eastern and western fringes, but other locations are now free of dryness and drought. In eastern sections, Pingelap reported just over one-half inch, keeping severe drought (D2) entrenched there. Along the western fringes, data from Yap were incomplete last week, but moderate drought (D1) was kept the same as last week since no significant rainfall was apparent based on other sources. At Kapingamarangi in south-central Micronesia, over 4 inches of rain fell last week, bringing an end to the abnormal dryness (D0) assessed the prior week. Other locations reporting 4 to 5 inches of rain last week (more than enough to match demand) included Kosrae, Lukunor, and Pohnpei while Chuuk almost reached that range (3.7 inches). Nukuoro was considerably drier last week, recording just over three-quarters of an inch, but antecedent rains kept any dryness designation at bay.

Last week was a mixed bag for the Marshall Islands, but some degree of drought continued to affect most locations. The exception was in southeastern sections. Mili recorded 3.81 inches of rain last week while Majuro only reported a significantly lower amount (just over one-half inch) but antecedent rains held off any designation this week. In contrast, all of the northeastern locations are now mired in extreme drought (D3). Wotje reported about 1.1 inches this week, which helped a bit with the surface moisture situation, but did not appear to be sufficient to bring the locations out of D3. Utirik drops into severe drought (D3) this week with no measurable rainfall observed. To the west, Kwajalein received enough rain (1.92 inches) to justify improvement to D1 (moderate drought), but conditions remained largely unchanged in west-central and southwestern parts of the country. Ailinglapalap reported just over one-half inch of rain, prompting a continuation of D2 (severe drought), while the 1.33 inches reported at Jaluit did not appear sufficient to implement any change to their D1 (moderate drought) designation, which is the same as last week.

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