August 4, 2026 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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Extreme drought persists for all the U.S. Virgin Islands this week. CoCoRaHS stations across St. Croix Island recorded anywhere from 0 to 0.09” this week. Areas of St. John Island recorded between 0.06 and 0.65” of rain this week. The Windswept Beach station recorded 0.51” of rain this week. St. Thomas Island had received 0.55” of rain this week from CoCoRaHS stations. The Adventure 28 Well recorded water depth of 24.6 ft. as of this week. This is 0.12 ft. lower compared to last week and 7.57 ft. lower compared to last year. The Susannaberg DPW 3 Well recorded a water depth of 17.43 ft. as of this week. This is 0.25 ft. lower compared to last week and 4.57 ft. lower compared to last year. The Grade School 3 Well has a water depth of 5.92 ft. as of this week. This is 0.02 ft. lower than last week and 0.42 ft. lower compared to last year. Vegetation Health Index (VHI) values for all the islands were considerably lower compared to last year. While St. John and St. Croix islands have VHI values ranging from 12-24 and 12-48, respectively, St. Thomas Island had VHI values range from 36-48.

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Rain was present to end July and start August for some islands in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Ailingalapalap and Jaluit received a total of 5.23” and 8.26” of rain respectively this week. Some places had a wet end to July and a dry start to August. Majuro received 4.11” of rain to end July but only 0.99” of rain to start August. Jaluit received the least rain this week of all the islands in the RMI, only receiving 0.9” of rain to start August. Other islands such as Mili, Utirik, and Wotje received 3.82”, 2.07” and 3.59” of rain for this week.

Rain was spotty for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) this week. Places such as Chuuk Lagoon, Kapingamarangi and Pohnpei received a total of 4.99”, 5.07” and 6.02” of rain, respectively. However, there are places that have received much less rain this week. Places such as Kosrae, Nukuoro, Ulithi and Yap received only 1.61”, 1.64”, 1.26” and 0.56” of rain this week. The island of Lukunor received the least rain this week at 0.1” of precipitation.

The Republic of Palau experienced a dry week. The Koror station only received 0.42” of rain, while the WSO in Palau only received 0.41” of rain this week. American Samoa has also experienced a drier week. The Pago Pago Airport received only 0.3” of rain this week. The Siufaga and Toa ridges received 1.07” and 1.24” of rain this week. Due to the persistent dryness encountered, American Samoa may face a one-category degradation to abnormal dryness next week, should the lack of rain continue.

The Marianas Islands experienced the passage of another typhoon in the middle of July. Additionally, the monsoon season may be in effect. Nevertheless, Guam has received 1.14” of rain this week. Rota and Tinian have received 4.32” and 1.92” of rain this week, respectively. The Saipan International Airport has received 0.37” of rain to close July, while precipitation records were missing to start August. Additionally, rainfall records were missing this week for the AMME NPS Saipan.

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