AXHW70 PHFO 051908 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-062200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 910 AM HST THU MAY 5 2011 ...AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT DECREASES IN MAUI COUNTY... SYNOPSIS... AGRICULTURE CONDITIONS HAVE RECOVERED ENOUGH FROM RAINFALL EARLIER IN THE YEAR TO WARRANT AN IMPROVEMENT IN DROUGHT DEPICTION OVER PORTIONS OF MAUI COUNTY. THUS...SEVERE DROUGHT...OR D2 CATEGORY CONDITIONS ON THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...HAS BEEN CHANGED TO MODERATE DROUGHT...OR THE D1 CATEGORY...OVER SOUTHWEST MAUI FROM KAONOULU TO KAMAOLE. MODERATE DROUGHT CONTINUES OVER LEEWARD WEST MAUI AND WESTERN MOLOKAI BUT HAS BEEN ELIMINATED FROM LANAI. ON THE BIG ISLAND...RAINFALL TOTALS INCREASED IN APRIL OVER THE LEEWARD SLOPES BUT IT IS TOO SOON TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH IMPROVEMENT WILL OCCUR OVER THE EXISTING DROUGHT AREAS. THIS INCLUDES A SMALL POCKET OF EXTREME DROUGHT...OR D3 CONDITIONS...OVER THE POHAKULOA AREA...AND SURROUNDING D2 CONDITIONS EXTENDING NORTHWEST TO WAIKOLOA AND SOUTHEAST TO MAUNA LOA. MODERATE DROUGHT ALSO CONTINUES OVER LEEWARD KOHALA...THE KAU DISTRICT AND PORTIONS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH KONA DISTRICTS. KAUAI AND OAHU REMAIN IN GOOD CONDITION WITH NO AREAS OF DROUGHT DEPICTED IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. THERE WERE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. OAHU. THERE WERE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. WATER SUPPLY IN THE WAIMANALO RESERVOIR IS WELL ABOVE DROUGHT LEVEL. HOWEVER...THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IS MAINTAINING A 10 PERCENT CUTBACK IN IRRIGATION WATER USE AS A PRECAUTION HEADING INTO THE DRY SEASON. MOLOKAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE APRIL 7 UPDATE. WATER LEVELS IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR REMAINED RELATIVELY STEADY DURING THE PAST MONTH. THUS...THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HAS KEPT IN PLACE THE MANDATORY 30 PERCENT CUTBACK IN IRRIGATION WATER CONSUMPTION. LANAI. THERE WERE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. MAUI. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION FROM KAONOULU TO KAMAOLE NEAR KIHEI HAVE RECOVERED ENOUGH TO SUPPORT CATTLE RANCHING OPERATIONS. WATER SUPPLY LEVELS REMAIN SUFFICIENT FOR UPCOUNTRY MAUI. HOWEVER...AS A PRECAUTION...THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY CONTINUED TO REQUEST A 5 PERCENT REDUCTION IN WATER USE BY UPCOUNTRY RESIDENTS. A 10 PERCENT REDUCTION IN WATER USE BY CENTRAL AND SOUTH MAUI RESIDENTS ALSO REMAINED IN EFFECT. BIG ISLAND. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN SLOWLY IMPROVING OVER THE LEEWARD KOHALA AND NORTH KONA DISTRICT SLOPES. HOWEVER...CHANGES TO THE EXISTING DROUGHT CATEGORY AS SUMMARIZED ABOVE WILL NOT BE MADE PENDING THE RECEIPT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON GROUND CONDITIONS. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...LA NINA CONTINUES TO WEAKEN. LA NINA IS AN ANOMALOUS COOLING OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES IN THE EQUATORIAL REGION OF THE PACIFIC. ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED BY SUMMER 2011. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON APRIL 21 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATED THAT PROBABILITIES FAVORED ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION THROUGH SPRING 2011. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON MAY 19. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MONTHLY STREAM FLOW AVERAGES FOR APRIL INDICATED THAT MOST OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ON KAUAI AND OAHU WERE AT NEAR NORMAL FLOW LEVELS. HOWEVER...MOST OF THE MONITORED STREAMS IN MAUI COUNTY AND THE BIG ISLAND WERE AT WELL BELOW NORMAL FLOW LEVELS. AVERAGE FLOW LEVELS ACROSS THE STATE ARE EXPECTED TO DECREASE OVERALL HEADING INTO THE DRY SEASON. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON JUNE 2 2011 OR SOONER IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS. && RELATED WEB SITES... ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/ U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...WWW.DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM/MONITOR.HTML HAWAII DROUGHT MONITOR...WWW.HAWAIIDROUGHT.COM USGS HAWAII - RECENT CONDITIONS...HI.WATER.USGS.GOV/RECENT/INDEX.HTML CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER LONG-LEAD HAWAII OUTLOOK... WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PRODUCTS/PREDICTIONS/90DAY/FXHW40.HTML ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... INFORMATION FOR THIS PRODUCT WAS COMPILED FROM A NUMBER OF SOURCES INCLUDING THE COUNTY BOARDS AND DEPARTMENTS OF WATER SUPPLY...U.S. AND STATE OF HAWAII AGRICULTURE AGENCIES...THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND THE MEDIA. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT... KEVIN KODAMA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 2525 CORREA RD. SUITE 250 HONOLULU HI 96822 PHONE...808-973-5276 KEVIN.KODAMA@NOAA.GOV $$