May 3, 2022 National Drought Summary

The discussion in the Looking Ahead section is simply a description of what the official national guidance from the National Weather Service (NWS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction is depicting for current areas of dryness and drought. The NWS forecast products utilizedinclude the HPC 5-day QPF and 5-day Mean Temperature progs, the 6-10 Day Outlooks of Temperature and Precipitation Probability, and the 8-14Day Outlooks of Temperature and Precipitation Probability, valid as of late Wednesday afternoon of the USDM release week. The NWS forecast webpage used for this section is: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/forecasts/.

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On St. Thomas, Cyril E. King Airport reported 0.99 inches of rain this week, and groundwater levels slightly improved. Short-term precipitation statistics suggest near-normal conditions, while long-term data (9 and 12 months) suggest some lingering dryness. Thus, the drought depiction for St. Thomas was improved from moderate long-term drought to long-term abnormal dryness. On St. John, 1.45 inches of rain was reported at Windswept Beach this week. One- and three-month precipitation is near normal now, while precipitation at 6 and 9 months is abnormally dry. Groundwater has also stabilized with the rainfall this week. Therefore, the drought depiction has been improved from short- and long-term moderate drought to short- and long-term abnormal dryness. On St. Croix, 0.32 inches of rain was reported at Henry Rohlsen Airport. Little change in groundwater levels was seen this week, though the overall trend over the last month is still downward. Severe short- and long-term drought continues there.

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This week in American Samoa, rainfall varied from 0.42 inches at Toa Ridge to 0.99 inches at Siufaga Ridge to 1.74 inches at Pago Pago. Rainfall over the last several months has exceeded 4 inches at these three monitoring sites, and drought-free conditions have continued.

The Palau airport recorded 6.47 inches of rain this week, and the COOP station recorded 3.56 inches. Drought-free conditions continued.

Rainfall totals were small on Saipan this week, ranging from 0.02 to 0.14 inches. This followed only 0.27 inches of rain last week. However, drought-free conditions continued since March and April rainfall both exceeded 4 inches. Dry weather occurred on Rota this week, with only 0.15 inches of rain falling. However, April rainfall totaled 11.26 inches, so Rota remained free of drought. On Guam, the dry recent weather continued, with only 0.16 inches of rain falling this week, after only 0.84 inches fell last week. A few wildfires were observed on the southern half of Guam as well, though they were contained. The recent dryness has not quite reached abnormally dry levels, as April rainfall totaled 4.74 inches.

On Kwajalein, 8.21 inches of rain fell in April. Only 0.56 inches were recorded this week, but given the wet April, drought-free conditions continued. The weather was relatively drier on Ailinglapalap this week, with 1.18 inches of rain following four consecutive weeks of at least 6 inches of rain, and drought-free conditions continued. Jaluit received 2.22 inches of rain this week, after just under 12 inches fell in April, and drought-free conditions continued. Dry weather continued on Wotje, where severe short- and long-term drought is ongoing. Only 0.43 inches of rain fell on Majuro this week, but this followed about 24 inches in April, so drought-free conditions continued. On Mili, 2.6 inches of rain fell, continuing a long streak of weeks with at least 2 inches of rain dating back to late February. Drought-free conditions continued there. No data were reported on Utirik this week, so no drought depiction is being made there.

On Yap, 2.19 inches of rain fell this week, following a wet April with 14.28 inches, and drought-free conditions continued. This week, Ulithi received 1.15 inches of rain after 22.71 inches fell in April, and drought-free conditions continued. In Woleai, 3.36 inches of rain fell this week, and drought-free conditions continued. At Chuuk, over 11 inches of rain fell, so drought-free conditions continued. In Lukunor, 11.82 inches of rain fell, and drought-free conditions continued there too. Nukuoro reported 7.17 inches of rain, and drought-free conditions continued. In Kapingamarangi, 3.39 inches of rain fell this week, breaking a drier span of weather since the middle of March. Short-term abnormal dryness was improved to no drought or dryness, as there have not been any water concerns reported on the island. Wetter than normal weather has been the rule in Pohnpei for the last three months, and that continued this week with 4.67 inches of rainfall. Pingelap reported 1.65 inches of rain this week, the lowest amount since late February. With almost double normal rainfall having occurred in March and April, drought-free conditions continued another week. On Kosrae, recent wet weather continued with 4.73 inches of rain falling this week. No data were reported on Fananu this week, so no drought depiction was made there.

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