Commonwealth residents are being encouraged to prepare for a drought, which could mean increased collateral effects such as lesser water to go around and more brush fires.
According to Nadine Deleon Guerrero, the external affairs officer of the CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency, the Commonwealth experiences a drought every year, but it started earlier than usual this year and they are unsure how long it will last.
That means the CNMI community should be prepared to conserve water and to keep burning to an absolute minimum to ensure safety from wildfires.
Deleon Guerrero said the drought started in January when it usually starts around March.
“Just be mindful that it won’t be raining as much and keep yourselves hydrated,” she added.
Last Tuesday, the National Weather Service in Tiyan, Guam, issued a notice of anticipated dry weather for the Commonwealth.
Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and the far Northern Islands will experience the severe impact of the drought.
In particular for Saipan, the drawdown of fresh water resources could be a problem in the next few weeks to months.
Vegetation will dry out and a severe wildfire season could develop, especially where debris from Typhoon Yutu remains.
Because of the anticipated dry weather, HSEM is advising the community to take all necessary precautions at this time.

Residents at the southern end of Pigeon Valley, evacuated in the Nelson area bush fires, were allowed to return home this morning.
That leaves 94 properties still evacuated.
Photo: Tracy Neal / RNZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited the region today to meet locals and look at what additional government support was needed, as fires give way to drought.
While many Wakefield residents have gone home, and the owners of about 74 properties in south Pigeon Valley went home this morning, there was still about 370 people from 138 properties still waiting – mostly from the Redwood Valley area.
Civil Defence controller Roger Ball said they were working every minute of every day to get people back home.
"Last night we were able to announce another 74 properties – about 200 people – were allowed back in, and teams are working on the other valley areas."
Mr Randle said they had been relieved to find no damage to their property, and they were grateful to be back home.
Mr Ball said the situation was improving but people needed to plan to be out of their homes until the weekend.
Ms Ardern said it was not just a service for people who accessed Work and Income, but for anyone who needed help as a result of the fire.
Ms Ardern said it would add an additional $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund, on top of the $70,000 already provided.

The Kenyan government has put in place adequate drought mitigation measures to avert a disruption of the academic calendar and other potential effects of the dry spell in the country, the government disclosed on Wednesday.A review of the Drought Status and Response Report compiled by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) bears out the government’s strategic preparedness to alleviate drought emergencies well in time.
During an intergovernmental committee meeting that brought together six Cabinet Secretaries at in Nairobi on Wednesday, the authority revealed that the current drought situation is less dire than last year’s scourge, adding that work is in progress to strengthen the institutional and financing framework for drought management through the Ending Drought Emergencies (EDE) initiative.
The report revealed that 14 counties are in the normal drought phase while nine in the alert level.
However, the trend is worsening in 13 counties, which are: Garissa, Isiolo, Kitui, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, Kilifi, Laikipia, Mandera, Nyeri (Kieni area) and West Pokot.
“Multi-sectoral interventions focusing on health, nutrition, peace, and security are all geared towards addressing the issues that could interrupt the normal learning, especially in the country’s drought hotspots, and reduce the vulnerability of the residents,” the government said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
The government said that its mobilising resources for dietetic intervention programmes, health and outreach screening, and enhancement of medical supplies to the affected areas.
The government said that emergency food supplies, water, and other non-food items will be provided to households, communities, and various institutions, including schools.
These pre-emptive interventions will be complemented by sustained sensitization campaigns on hygiene and sanitation and provision of water trucking services and rehabilitation and maintenance of strategic water facilities, noted the statement.
Kenya has experienced perennial drought for three decades forcing thousands of children to drop out of school.

"I was around for the drought of 2001," Smith said.
"I thought that was as bad as it could get.
"It is clear that this is worse."
* Severe water restrictions to bite as drought could cost over $100 million * Nelson bush fire: Blaze battle sucks water from low-flowing Wai-iti River * Council considers ‘draconian’ measures to combat big dry Such a huge cut in water allocations is expected to be devastating for many growers on the plains with yields already down at one large market gardening operation along with a reduction in new plantings and fears for fragile leafy greens that are now just surviving.
Advertise with Stuff There is also concern about the effect of the water cuts on the coming apple harvest.
"This is ramping up to be the most serious drought Nelson has ever had."
"There’s a lot more people living in the region … and more people growing high-value crops that cannot turn the tap off."
However, the reality was "the production system gets ramped up" with irrigation and the "assumption of guaranteed water" but even once the dam was commissioned, the region could still be affected by "really dry periods".
For the Waimea Plains, better resilience might involve looking at new crops or the diversification of crops.
Across New Zealand, basic infrastructure had been taken for granted such as water supply and water quality, O’Connor said.

POLICE are calling on the public’s assistance after sheep, tools and a large amount of grain were stolen from a drought-affected farmer in Trundle.
The incident occurred at a property on Yarrabandi Road in Trundle and included the theft of 20 fat lambs.
NSW Police state rural crime co-ordinator Detective Inspector Cameron Whiteside said the theft occurred during the past few weeks.
"The lambs are tagged with ‘K Park’," he said.
Det Insp Whiteside said the theft would have been well planned and would have required a heavy vehicle.
"The theft of this grain would more than likely have required a large truck to transport from the property," he said.
"A quantity of tools were also stolen."
Det Insp has urged any members of the public with information or who may have seen any suspicious vehicles in that area during the past few weeks to contact police.
Call Tullamore Police Station on 6892 5000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

February 13 at 4:42 PM What began as welcomed rain after several years of crippling drought in Australia turned into a catastrophe after record-breaking downpour flooded the northeastern coast, killing hundreds of thousands of cattle, wiping away the livelihood of many farming communities and threatening one of the country’s vital industries.
Nearly 50 million acres of land in the state of Queensland was inundated this past week.
Officials estimate more than 300,000 herd cattle were killed, though that number could rise.
One producer who normally has about 70,000 cattle has found only 1,000 as of last week, officials said.
Countless carcasses, many huddled together in mud, have been discovered as water began to recede.
Many farmers, Guerin said, have not only lost their livelihood, but are also left with crippling debt.
“What I’m concerned about now is the next two to five years and how we support these people to actually get back on their feet to restock their companies, to rebuild their infrastructure to rebuild fences .
and get their businesses back and running,” Somerset said.
Eight of Australia’s top-10 warmest years on record have come in the past 13 years.
Last month, a multiweek heat wave parched the landscape in South Australia, triggered damaging wildfires and toppled significant records.

Despite a last-minute frenzy of deal-making, the federal government announced that it will begin taking “protective actions” on the Colorado River, where a long-running drought has put the water supply for 40 million people at risk.
While most states had agreed, California and Arizona couldn’t finalize the agreement in time.
“We are close,” said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman.
Interior holds “broad authority,” according to Commissioner Burman, to make decisions on the lower Colorado River.
Arizona and Nevada’s water supplies would be cut back then, but California’s would not, because it holds the oldest water rights on the river.
Under the states’ still unratified drought deal, California and other states would begin reducing their water use before currently required, in order to preserve water levels in Lake Mead.
The Colorado River supplies millions of people in Southern California, mostly through the Metropolitan Water District, as well as several major farming districts.
But some farming communities saw little reason to sign on, since they have the most secure water rights to the river.
As the deadline passed, two parties, Arizona and California’s Imperial Irrigation District, had yet to agree to the plan.
In a statement, Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Henry Martinez said the district "will continue to work diligently to reach agreement" and it "expects the work on the DCP (drought contingency plan) to be completed promptly."

Send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.
We have a drought whenever it stops raining for a long time.
When it rains, some of the water goes into the ground.
Another part of the rain goes into the rivers and that is really important too.
When we don’t have enough water left for the people, plants and animals to stay healthy, then we call that a drought.
Maybe you want to know why it doesn’t rain?
The heat makes the drought even worse, because it makes the plants more thirsty so they have to drink more.
We can’t make it rain.
But we can try to make sure we have enough water to keep everyone and everything healthy.
Read more: Curious Kids: What is dew?

The risk of experiencing a summer such as the one we have just been through will increase in the years to come due to climate change.
The researchers found that wheat and maize under climate change will be most affected by drought and less so by heat stress.
– By understanding whether heat or drought poses the greatest risk to the individual types of crops, farmers and plant breeders can more readily develop and select the crop varieties and management systems that are most suitable, says one of the authors of the article, Section Manager and Professor Jørgen E. Olesen from the Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University.
The researchers used an ensemble of 10 different models to calculate how much heat or drought, respectively, contributes to yield losses in winter wheat and maize.
Thereafter, the researchers used the models to predict wheat and maize yields up to 2050.
Maize in particular will be under pressure If agriculture continues to use the current varieties and current cropping systems, climate change on a whole will lead to yield losses in maize and increasing yields in wheat.
Heat stress will, on average for all of Europe, not pose a problem for crops if there is sufficient rainfall, while drought stress will pose a problem for maize, in particular.
In years with low yields, drought will be a problem for both maize and wheat and there will be no help to find from increased levels of CO2 — which would otherwise benefit yields in the absence of drought.
Journal Reference: Heidi Webber, Frank Ewert, Jørgen E. Olesen, Christoph Müller, Stefan Fronzek, Alex C. Ruane, Maryse Bourgault, Pierre Martre, Behnam Ababaei, Marco Bindi, Roberto Ferrise, Robert Finger, Nándor Fodor, Clara Gabaldón-Leal, Thomas Gaiser, Mohamed Jabloun, Kurt-Christian Kersebaum, Jon I. Lizaso, Ignacio J. Lorite, Loic Manceau, Marco Moriondo, Claas Nendel, Alfredo Rodríguez, Margarita Ruiz-Ramos, Mikhail A. Semenov, Stefan Siebert, Tommaso Stella, Pierre Stratonovitch, Giacomo Trombi, Daniel Wallach.
Diverging importance of drought stress for maize and winter wheat in Europe.

The funds will be used for basic support like supplying water tankers and other programmes to be undertaken to tackle water scarcity till June," a government official said.
The state cabinet approved temporary revision by Rs 2,000 crore.
It will make available Rs 2,150 crore funds, which will be used to cater to the demands of 151 drought-hit tehsils of Maharashtra.
"A sizeable portion of these funds will be utilised for financial disbursement to farmers, who have lost their crops," it added.
The cabinet also cleared proposals to increase the funding for cotton mills in the state.
The cabinet also decided to launch the Chief Minister Cattle Health Scheme, under which 349 mobile veterinary hospitals will be set up.
Earlier, the ration of sharing cost for setting up the cotton mill by share-holders, state and bank loan was 10:30:60.
It means members have to raise 10 per cent funding of the total cost, followed by the state government contributing 30 per cent and loan component was 60 per cent.
The cabinet also decided to take action against Pune-based Spicer Adventist University as alleged irregularities were found in its admission procedures.
The cabinet also approved a proposal to implement the Centre-sponsored Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, for schemes, including electrification, supply of LPG cylinders and providing insurance policies, among others, in rural areas.