June is quiet for Guam, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Brandon Aydlett, which is why it's the perfect time to prepare for storms as we enter Typhoon Preparedness Month. 

“There’s not much out there, nothing threatening us. This is the perfect time to think about what you need to do around your homes and around your businesses to be prepared,” said Aydlett. 

Weather officials are keeping an eye on disturbances in the region that could develop into tropical cyclones, or typhoons and hurricanes, depending on their location.

“Every year here on Guam, we definitely want to remind residents to be prepared. Typhoons are a way of life out here. We’ve been spared quite a few times. Mawar kind of changed that pattern in 2023. But tropical cyclones are a significant threat,” Aydlett added. 

The first tropical cyclone of the year in the West Pacific formed just earlier this week, west of the Philippines and the South China Sea. 

“Pretty late for the first tropical cyclone for the west Pacific, but we had one nonetheless. And we’re going to be watching other disturbances for their potential development,” Aydlett said. 

Current technology can’t predict if there will be any typhoons for Guam in the coming months, but there is a greater risk for them during peak typhoon season.

“We typically see our largest chance of tropical cyclones passing through the Marianas come in August, September, October and November. The greatest threat, climatologically speaking, is in the December and November months for the major typhoons– we’re talking category 3, 4 and 5,” said Aydlett. 

In any given year, there are three to five tropical cyclones near Guam, or within a couple hundred miles from the island.  

The community is reminded to keep preparedness on top of mind.

One website he recommends is FEMA’s webpage ready.gov.

“Under ‘Hurricanes,’ you can find a lot of information about what to prepare for before a tropical cyclone, during and then after. And it’s the after that is sometimes a surprise for a lot of people, as we saw during Typhoon Mawar,” said Aydlett.