April 25, 2023 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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Caribbean: For the drought-monitoring period ending on April 25, occasional showers dotted the U.S. Virgin Islands. Seven-day rainfall totals at a variety of volunteer (CoCoRaHS) and airport stations ranged from 0.02 to 0.78 inch. Much of the rain fell late in the period, with King Airport on St. Thomas receiving 0.54 inch on April 22-23, and Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix reporting 0.50 inch on April 23-24. However, rainfall was insufficient to improve the drought designation, with St. Croix remaining in severe drought (D2) and St. Thomas remaining in moderate drought (D1). Abnormal dryness (D0) persisted on St. John. The drought depiction was supported by a variety of indicators, including the standardized precipitation index (at time periods ranging from 3 to 6 months); increasing depths to water at three U.S. Geological Survey wells; and poor vegetation health. On St. Croix, depth to water at the USGS Adventure 28 well topped 30 feet (on April 14) for the first time since late-October 2022.

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The remnants of Tropical Storm Sanvu passed through portions of the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands, locally enhancing rainfall. During the drought-monitoring period ending on April 25, rainfall topped 4 inches at several observation sites in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Specifically in the RMI, 7-day rainfall totals reached 6.57 inches at Ailinglapalap and 5.98 inches at Kwajalein. Improvement from long-term moderate drought (D1-L) to abnormal dryness (D0-L) was noted for Kwajalein. Similarly, improvement from severe to moderate drought (D2-SL to D1-L) occurred on Wotje, RMI, with 5.78 inches of rain having fallen in the 2-week period ending April 25. However, showers largely bypassed Jaluit, RMI, which remained abnormally dry (D0-S); Jaluit has reported less than an inch of rain in 4 of the last 6 weeks.

In the FSM, Ulithi was the only location with a designation, remaining abnormally dry (D0-S). Ulithi has received less than 1.5 inches of rain in 5 consecutive weeks. Despite some patchy, short-term rainfall deficits emerging in a few locations across the western FSM, abnormal dryness was not yet warranted. Similarly, portions of the Republic of Palau have turned slightly drier, following an extended period of wet weather, with no need yet to introduce abnormal dryness.

Elsewhere, ample rain continued to fall across American Samoa, as well as most locations in the Marianas. Through April 25, month-to-date rainfall at Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa totaled 13.57 inches. Many locations in the Marianas, including the airport sites on Guam and Saipan, received well-above-normal rainfall totaling more than 4 inches during the first 25 days of April.

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