Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Tiyan, Guam
Issued by NWS Tiyan, Guam
510 FXPQ50 PGUM 292053 AFDGUM Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tiyan GU 653 AM ChST Sun Nov 30 2025 .Marianas Update... The scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms moved through the Marianas, leaving us with a soak-u-lent 0.02 inches... sigh. We may have picked up a couple of tenths after midnight. And now, both radar and satellite are mostly empty upstream. Showers could always redevelop of course, there`s still a trough upstream. Took a look at the 1.5 inches of QPF in the grid today and called up DESI. That was more than even the highest member of the Grand Ensemble gave. So, had to take today and the next couple of days weather down a notch, left it scattered though, because the trough remains upstream. It will just be less than had been expected. && .Marine... The marine forecast for the Marianas is pretty much right on track and no changes were needed. Combined seas of 6 to 8 feet will grow to between 7 and 9 feet over the next few days. There`s a high risk of rip currents along east reefs, which could spread to north reefs and require a high surf advisory, but hasn`t done so yet. && .Eastern Micronesia Update... No changes were made to the forecast this morning. Clouds are evaporating over Pohnpei, and Kosrae remains fairly clear, so those two forecasts are working great. Majuro is fairly clear right now as the expected scattered showers are lurking to the south. They could easily move back in. It`s mainly speed convergence of the trades with possibly a hint of an Inter Tropical Convergence Zone driving this activity in the Marshalls. Upper-level divergence seems to be the driver for the scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms northeast of Pohnpei. && .Western Micronesia Update... No changes were made to the forecast for Western Micronesia. The showers at Chuuk are looking a bit sparse, but figured they could redevelop, so re-issued the forecast of scattered. Oddly, Koror has a weak circulation right near them, but there is hardly any convection with it. This is going to allow for mostly sunny skies with isolated showers at both Yap and Koror, which matched well with the inherited expectations. && .Tropical Systems... JTWC`s Invest Area 93W is a highly stretched and disorganized thing, but it is still a thing. It apparently has 2 circulation centers, one south-southwest of Chuuk near 2N148E, and one near Koror Palau at 6N135E, with a trough connecting them. All the convection is to the northeast, slightly northeast of the Chuuk center, and far northeast of the Koror center, mostly associated with a couple of trade-wind troughs moving through the Marianas. A tropical system with no convection is one that`s not developing, so no change is expected in the near term, other than that it might gradually drift westward or west-northwestward. .Prev discussion... /issued 613 PM ChST Sat Nov 29 2025/ Marianas Synopsis... Visible satellite and radar imagery show scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms across the region, mainly focused across Guam and Rota coastal waters this afternoon. Buoy and altimetry data reveal seas between 5 and 6 feet. Discussion... ASCAT analysis shows a trade-wind trough across western waters earlier today, which continued to propagate westward this afternoon. This brought an increase in scattered showers and several thunderstorms near Guam and Rota today. Satellite and model trends indicate an area scattered to numerous showers and isolated thunderstorms developing to the east as trade-wind convergence strengthen north of Invest 93W, a weak tropical disturbance to the southeast. As 93W moves south of Guam over the next few days, this will attribute an unsettled weather pattern across the Marianas. An increase to numerous showers are expected later tonight for Guam and Rota and after midnight for Tinian and Saipan. A peak in showers are expected Sunday with gusts to 30 mph and locally showers possible for Guam and Rota Sunday. Scattered to numerous showers continue through early next week, then trade convergence following this disturbance may prolong showers near Guam and Rota through the midweek. Marine/Surf... Combined seas of 5 to 7 feet are expected to build to 7 to 9 feet Sunday as northerly swell arrives, generated by a distant low pressure system. There will be a moderate risk of rip currents along north and east facing reefs of the Marianas through tonight. Then, the arrival of long-period north-northeast swell will increase surf along north and east facing reefs over the next few days. The rip risk increases to high along east facing reefs first, then surf along north-facing reefs may increase to the high rip risk and high surf thresholds (9 foot surf along north facing reefs) Sunday night and Monday. As for now, a High Risk of Rip Currents will be in effect Sunday morning through Wednesday afternoon. Tropical Systems... A weak disturbance, JTWC Invest 93W, is centered near 9N148E. This feature is currently more of an open trough, extending north from a weak buffer circulation near 1N149E to end near 12N148E. Invest 93W looks to move toward the west-northwest over the next few days, possibly becoming a weak circulation north of Yap and Palau early next week. Invest 93W will be monitored closely over the next few days for any indication of more rapid development. Eastern Micronesia... Mostly cloudy skies with low-end scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are seen across Pohnpei this evening. Partly cloudy skies with isolated showers are present over Kosrae and Majuro. Buoys show seas of 4 to 5 feet at Kosrae and Pohnpei, while altimetry shows seas of 4 to 5 feet for Pohnpei and Kosrae and 6 to 9 feet east of Majuro. Models continue to overestimate rainfall across eastern Micronesia. This is due to the expected development of an Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) that hasn`t materialized. There is now a weak ITCZ that extends from the Date Line to just north of Majuro. However, not much convection is seen with this feature yet. There are scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to the east of Majuro that look to move over the atoll later tonight. Low-end scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are then expected to continue into the beginning of next week. A drier pattern is then expected to return to the atoll and continue through at least the middle of next week. For Kosrae, a dry pattern looks to continue through Sunday. Beginning Sunday night, weak trade-wind troughs passing through the state look to bring periods of scattered showers, with POPs (Probability of Precipitation) mostly in the 30 to 40% range. However, there will be times when the POPs drop to around 20%. Although models want to bring the ITCZ west into Kosrae, and later into Pohnpei, this doesn`t look likely. If the ITCZ does strengthen westward, POPs will need to be increased. For Pohnpei, an outflow is pushing northeast from a convective complex to the southwest of the island. As this outflow approaches, a band of weak convergence is producing scattered showers and a couple thunderstorms within the coastal waters. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms look to continue there through tonight. By Sunday morning, a drier pattern looks to move in from Kosrae, resulting in isolated showers Sunday and Sunday night. Gentle to moderate winds are expected at Kosrae and Pohnpei through the middle of next week. For Majuro, gentle to fresh winds are expected through the middle of next week. Sea and surf conditions will undergo changes over the weekend. Trade-wind swell looks to slowly build 1 to 2 feet across eastern Micronesia while a long-period north swell also enters the region. The northeast trade swell is expected to reach 8 feet at Majuro, 7 feet at Pohnpei and 6 feet at Kosrae. This swell could reach high enough to produce hazardous surf conditions of 8 feet along east facing reefs on Kosrae, depending on the easterly component of the swell. The north swell is expected to arrive by Sunday afternoon, climbing from 3 feet Sunday afternoon to 5 feet by Monday morning, with a period of 14 seconds. Another King Tide cycle will also occur beginning around Tuesday afternoon, with the highest tides on Thursday. With the long-period north swell combined with the King Tide cycle, minor coastal inundation is expected along north facing reefs of Majuro, especially within the lagoon, including the airport. Residents of Majuro should take this time to ensure that property is removed from coastal flood prone areas. Western Micronesia... Satellite imagery shows an area of scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms, centered around 7N138E, to the east of Palau and south of Yap Proper. The CIMSS 500 MB relative vorticity product shows and area of increased vorticity over this location, indicating there is vertical lift that is helping to support this area of convection. Models suggest this area of showers will shift northwest, bringing scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to Palau and Yap later tonight, and then as the 500 mb vorticity weakens, the convection will diminish and for both locations Sunday, though light winds may trigger some isolated island-effect convection during peak heating hours at Palau. Across Chuuk, scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms continue to be supported by the convergent flow north of the NET trailing behind the trough (being monitored as Invest 93W) that is moving into the Marianas. Models supporting a very broad circulation developing within the NET over the next few days that will shift westward, following the vorticity associated with the trough as it moves through the Marianas and then continue to move westward into the Philippine Sea north of Yap and Palau, potentially also developing into a circulation . While models favor showers and thunderstorms mainly north of Palau and Yap, convergence along the circulations will bring scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to Palau Sunday night and Monday, and into Yap starting around Monday night. Though the NET will move way from Chuuk, models suggest trade- wind troughs exiting eastern Micronesia will continue to support scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms across Chuuk trough the middle of the upcoming week. However, as noticed in the eastern Micronesia discussion, models have been overestimating rainfall for that region, which could also mean they are overestimating rainfall for Chuuk next week, so this will be a trend to watch over the next couple of days. Altimetry data combined seas are around 4 to 5 across the region. The primary northeast trade swell is expected to remain fairly steady over the next several day, but still expecting a long-period north swell to move into the region around Monday, which will build surf along north-facing reefs. Wave models support most of the energy of the north swell will be near and east of Chuuk, so surf will remain below hazardous levels of 9 feet at Palau and Yap, but there is still the potential for surf to push up to 9 feet at Chuuk along north-facing reefs around Tuesday. Seas will peak around 5 and 6 feet near Palau and Yap and around 7 to 8 feet at Chuuk by the middle of the week. The next King Tide cycle is expected to occur with the full moon on December 4th, meaning high tides will be elevated a few days before and after the full moon. This will increase the potential for some minor coastal inundation, especially at vulnerable islands/atolls. Factors such as the current La Nina pattern, and pulses of long-period swell are other factors that can increase the risk of minor coastal inundation. During the new moon back on November 20th, and the last King Tide cycle near the beginning of November with the previous full moon, Chuuk did experience some coastal flooding. While the upcoming King Tide cycle is not expected to produce high tides as high as the King Tides back in November, tides will be similar to the tides experienced during the new moon, so this potential for coastal inundation is something to watch for during the first week of December. Based on current tide predictions, this risk will peak Thursday, December 4th to about Monday, December 8th. && .GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GU...High Rip Current Risk through Wednesday afternoon for GUZ001. MP...High Rip Current Risk through Wednesday afternoon for MPZ001>003. Marianas Waters...None. && $$ Marianas/East and West Micronesia/Tropical Update: Stanko Marianas: Cruz East Micronesia/Tropical: Kleeschulte West Micronesia: Schank