SAIPAN — Federal forecasters and emergency officials used a live regional briefing Friday to deliver a pointed message to the Marianas: with a strong El Niño taking shape, the islands should prepare for a busier-than-normal typhoon season even as they continue digging out from Super Typhoon Sinlaku.
The briefing, held in Guam alongside a Typhoon Preparedness Month proclamation and broadcast live in the CNMI, brought together the National Weather Service in Guam, CNMI and Guam homeland security officials, FEMA, and the governors of both jurisdictions.
Landon Aydlett, warning coordination meteorologist at NWS Guam, laid out the 2026 outlook for the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, which projects above-normal activity tied to the shift toward El Niño. He said the region could see three to five additional typhoons and four to seven named storms through the end of the year, while cautioning that the outlook is a guide to overall activity and not a landfall forecast.
“This is not a time to panic, but it’s just a reminder to prepare and to be ready,” Aydlett said. He pointed to past El Niño years as a warning, noting that in 2015 eight tropical cyclones passed between Guam and Saipan. He said the likelihood of a direct hit is far higher in an El Niño year than in the La Niña years the region has seen since 2020, though he stressed nothing is guaranteed.
Joshua Schank, acting science and operations officer at NWS Guam, presented the agency’s assessment of Sinlaku and emphasized the storm’s unusually large size. He said its broad wind field, rather than just its peak intensity, drove the damage, exposing Saipan and Tinian to tropical-storm-force winds for roughly 84 hours and producing coastal inundation that survey teams measured at 11 to 15 feet, and possibly up to 16 feet, on some shores. Schank said the Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated maximum sustained winds near 145 miles per hour as the storm made its closest approach to Tinian and Saipan, a figure he said was supported by pressure readings and satellite analysis.
Christian Williams, an NWS Guam meteorologist, said indicators point to a very strong El Niño this year, an event sometimes called a “super” El Niño, defined by ocean temperature anomalies of two degrees Celsius or higher. He cautioned that every El Niño behaves differently but said stronger events raise the risk of severe drought and wildfire across the Marianas and Micronesia heading into 2027.
Clement Bermudes, special assistant at the CNMI Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, gave a recovery update, saying about 99 percent of Saipan’s primary power lines have been energized and roughly half of electrical customers are back on the CUC grid. He said about 98 percent of Saipan customers are receiving 24-hour water service though the precautionary boil water notice remains in effect, while Tinian’s water system is 99 percent online with its notice lifted and Rota’s service fully restored. Bermudes said all shelters were closed with zero occupants as of June 2.
Veronica Verde, acting senior public affairs officer for FEMA Region 9, said the agency remains focused on supporting communities before, during, and after disasters, and described emergency management as most effective when locally led, territorially managed, and federally supported. Asked about a 2027 budget request reported to propose cuts to NOAA and FEMA, Verde said FEMA had not heard of any budget cuts and that the administration is fully supportive of the agency. Aydlett, responding to the same question, said the Weather Service is undergoing a reorientation focused on decision support and that its forecasts, watches, and warnings to the community would remain unchanged “if not stronger in the future.”
Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero, who signed the preparedness proclamation, recalled riding out Typhoon Karen in 1962 as a child and emerging to find her village flattened. She said she understood the feeling when she called CNMI Governor David Apatang during Sinlaku and he told her, “Governor, my island is destroyed.” She credited close coordination with the National Weather Service for the region’s preparedness.
Apatang, joining virtually, thanked federal, military, and local partners and said recovery has been smoother because of their teamwork. “Every typhoon leaves behind lessons. Every recovery effort reveals opportunities to improve,” he said, urging residents to review emergency plans and prepare supply kits as the season begins.