Dry weather has persisted long enough at a few locations in Micronesia so that drought conditions have started.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS GUM wrote it up.
Dry weather has persisted long enough at a few locations in Micronesia so that drought conditions have started.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Guam wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 31, 8:12 AM UTC, 5 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tiyan GU 612 PM ChST Fri Jan 31 2020 .Marianas Synopsis... A cold front continues to drop southeastward toward the Marianas and is currently about 450 miles to the northwest. To the south, a broad, weak circulation is centered near 7N145E with showers and thunderstorms spanning the region from Yap to Chuuk to just south of Guam. Closer to the Marianas, gentle winds persist with only isolated showers seen nearby. Winds were light enough today that some island- effect showers developed just to the west of southern Guam. Combined seas remain around 5 feet. && .Discussion... Models maintain a wet outlook for the weekend as the two systems converge on the Marianas. Moisture will gradually increase Saturday with wet conditions, perhaps up to 2 inches of rain, persist into Monday. Winds will remain light and variable into Saturday morning, but will turn around from the northeast and gradually increase, possibly up to around 20 mph Saturday afternoon and evening. The cold front will transition into a shear line as it nears the area and will stall over the islands Saturday night and Sunday before drifting back northward Monday as easterly winds try to push back in to the area. Conditions will slowly improve early next week. Models show easterly winds pushing the shear line farther north and west such that skies will fall back to partly cloudy by midweek. In the long term, another shear line could affect the region again next weekend. && .Marine... Seas of about 5 feet with light to gentle winds will continue through Saturday morning. A growing north swell has already been detected by Saipan buoy and that swell is expected to increase more Saturday and Saturday night. More notably, northeast winds will quickly increase from western waters Saturday morning to the eastern waters in the afternoon. Seas will quickly become choppy during the day as winds reach up to between 15 and 25 kt by Saturday evening. Winds will ultimately ease off early next week. Will have to watch buoys and altimetry as model data keep seas just shy of hazardous levels. Similarly, surf stays just below hazardous levels for now, but surf will become choppy as winds pick up. && .Eastern Micronesia... A surface trough could be found just east of Kosrae this afternoon. The trough will move slowly westward and eventually merge with a Near Equatorial Trough south of Pohnpei by Monday. The trough will bring scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to Kosrae tonight through Saturday night. Much of the activity associated with the trough will pass south of Pohnpei but will be close enough to produce mostly cloudy skies and isolated thunderstorms at Pohnpei tonight through Sunday night. Drier air will move into these two locations the first half of the coming week keeping skies partly cloudy and showers isolated. At Majuro lingering moisture will keep skies mostly cloudy there tonight. The drier air will move into Majuro earlier than the other two locations and keep showers isolated and skies partly cloudy Saturday through Wednesday. && .Western Micronesia... A circulation could be found east of Yap this afternoon near 7N144E. Models move it slowly westward through the weekend. GFS has it weakening into a trough by Monday night while the ECMWF keeps it as a weak circulation. In any case, the trough/circulation is predicted to pass near Palau by Tuesday night. Models keep the shower coverage patchy so expect only mostly cloudy skies with isolated showers and thunderstorms at Palau Sunday through Tuesday. Convergence in the wake of the circulation/trough will keep the same weather over Palau Wednesday. Yap can also expected mostly cloudy skies with isolated showers and thunderstorms Sunday and Sunday night. Low-level convergence will produce scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms at Yap Monday through Wednesday. The pressure gradient between the circulation/trough and high pressure to the north will increase the winds across Palau and Yap with winds of 15 to 20 knots at Palau Sunday through Monday and between Saturday night and Wednesday at Yap with higher winds Sunday and Sunday night. Winds may be hazardous for small craft at Yap Sunday and Sunday night. Winds north of these two locations over the Philippine Sea will push higher swells across Palau and Yap. These swells in combination with wind waves will increase seas at Palau and Yap Saturday night through Monday. Seas may also be a hazard to small craft at Yap Sunday night through Wednesday Chuuk is east of all the main activity as the circulation is moving away from this location. However, enough low-level convergence does exist east of the circulation to produce isolated showers and thunderstorms there tonight. More low-level convergence will keep skies mostly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms at Chuuk Saturday through Sunday night. Winds and seas are expected to increase the first half of the coming week but should not become hazardous for small craft. && .GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GU...None. Marianas Waters...None. && W. Aydlett/Ziobro
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Dry conditions have persisted long enough, bringing Utirik and Wotje in the Marshall Islands to Severe Drought (D2) status.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Guam in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Guam, February 2020
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 893528.