Tropical Storm Soudelor is expected to develop into a typhoon over the weekend but forecasters say its track should mean minimal impact for the Northern Marianas.
Michael Ziobro from the National Weather Service's Guam Office says the system is currently over 1200 kilometres east of Saipan and contains winds of 72 kilometres per hour.
However Mr Ziobro says by Saturday afternoon it will be a typhoon with winds of up to 200 kmh which will slowly increase further.
The forecaster says the track of the storm will take it through the northern islands of Alamagan and Pagan around Sunday night.
"They're very sparsely populated at this time but there are people there. They had a storm there a few weeks ago so they are probably somewhat prepared for something to happen and since it is sparsely populated they can probably get into whatever shelter they have very easily."
Track of Soudelor storm Photo: National Weather Service
