AXHW70 PHFO 071904 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-082200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 900 AM HST THU FEB 7 2013 ...JANUARY RAINFALL EASES DROUGHT IN ALL FOUR COUNTIES IN THE STATE OF HAWAII... SYNOPSIS... SEVERAL HEAVY RAIN EVENTS IN JANUARY BROUGHT VARYING LEVELS OF DROUGHT RELIEF TO ALL FOUR COUNTIES ACROSS THE STATE. FOR SOME LOCATIONS IT WAS THE WETTEST JANUARY IN AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. CONDITIONS ON KAUAI HAVE IMPROVED TO THE POINT WHERE THE ENTIRE ISLAND IS NOW DROUGHT-FREE. OAHU HAS ONLY A SMALL AREA OF MODERATE DROUGHT...OR D1 CATEGORY CONDITIONS IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...OVER THE LEEWARD SLOPES OF THE WAIANAE RANGE. IMPROVEMENTS ALSO OCCURRED OVER LANAI AND WEST MOLOKAI. EXTREME DROUGHT...OR D3 CATEGORY CONDITIONS...IMPROVED TO SEVERE DROUGHT...OR D2 CONDITIONS...IN BOTH AREAS. UNFORTUNATELY...LEEWARD AREAS OF MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND DID NOT RECEIVE AS MUCH RAINFALL AS THE WEST HALF OF THE STATE AND RAINFALL COVERAGE WAS LESS CONSISTENT. IMPROVEMENTS IN DROUGHT CONDITIONS OCCURRED ON BOTH ISLANDS BUT THE EXTENT OF THESE IMPROVEMENTS WAS MUCH MORE LIMITED. THUS...EXTREME DROUGHT ON MAUI REMAINS OVER THE KIHEI...LOWER KULA...ULUPALAKUA...AND THE LOWER KAUPO AREAS. SEVERE DROUGHT EASED TO MODERATE DROUGHT NEAR THE PUKALANI AND MAKAWAO AREAS. ON THE BIG ISLAND...EXTREME DROUGHT CONTINUED OVER THE KAWAIHAE AREA OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT AND THE POHAKULOA AREA OF THE HAMAKUA DISTRICT. EXTREME DROUGHT EASED TO SEVERE DROUGHT OVER THE SOUTHERN KAU DISTRICT AND THE WAIKOLOA AREA OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT. SEVERE DROUGHT REMAINED IN PLACE OVER MOST OF THE NORTH KONA AND SOUTH KONA DISTRICTS. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. SUFFICIENT RAINFALL OCCURRED OVER THE PAST MONTH TO HELP CONTINUE PASTURE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE POINT WHERE THE ISLAND IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED TO BE UNDER DROUGHT. OAHU. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS OVER THE LEEWARD WAIANAE RANGE HAVE BEEN IMPROVING AS A RESULT OF RAINFALL IN JANUARY. MORE RAINFALL IS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN THE RECOVERY PROCESS. MOLOKAI. PORTIONS OF MOLOKAI HAD ITS WETTEST MONTH IN OVER FIVE YEARS. RECENT GROUND REPORTS ARE NOT AVAILABLE BUT VEGETATION HEALTH DATA FROM REMOTE SENSING SOURCES INDICATE THAT PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN HOW MUCH ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL OCCUR TO SUSTAIN THE IMPROVEMENTS. THE WATER LEVEL IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR SHOWED ONLY A SMALL INCREASE IN THE PAST MONTH AND REMAINS LOW. THUS...THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HAS CONTINUED A MANDATORY 30 PERCENT REDUCTION IN IRRIGATION WATER CONSUMPTION. LANAI. A RECENT GROUND REPORT IS NOT AVAILABLE BUT VEGETATION HEALTH DATA FROM REMOTE SENSING SOURCES INDICATE THAT PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED IN THE PAST MONTH WHICH IS CONSISTENT WITH THE INCREASE IN RAINFALL. MAUI. LEEWARD MAUI RECEIVED SOME RAINFALL OVER THE PAST MONTH WHICH HELPED KEEP POOR PASTURE CONDITIONS FROM WORSENING OR SPREADING. THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY CONTINUED ITS LONG STANDING REQUEST FOR A 5 PERCENT REDUCTION IN WATER USE FOR UPCOUNTRY RESIDENTS. THE REQUEST FOR A 10 PERCENT REDUCTION IN WATER USE BY CENTRAL AND SOUTH MAUI RESIDENTS ALSO REMAINED IN EFFECT. BIG ISLAND. THE KAU DISTRICT HAS RECEIVED ENOUGH RAINFALL TO SUPPORT GOOD PASTURE AND GENERAL VEGETATION RECOVERY. PORTIONS OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT NEAR WAIKOLOA RECEIVED ENOUGH RAINFALL TO SUPPORT REGROWTH OF GRASSES AS WELL. HOWEVER...PASTURES IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT NEAR AND NORTH OF KAWAIHAE STILL CANNOT SUPPORT GRAZING. VEGETATION IN THE POHAKULOA AREA ALSO REMAINS VERY DRY AND FIRE OFFICIALS CONTINUE TO RATE THE AREA AS UNDER EXTREME FIRE RISK. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS REMAIN IN PLACE AND ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE SPRING. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON JANUARY 17 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT PROBABILITIES FAVOR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE REST OF THE WET SEASON...OR THROUGH THE END OF APRIL. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON FEBRUARY 21. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SHOWED THAT MOST OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ACROSS THE STATE HAD FLOW AVERAGES IN THE NORMAL TO ABOVE NORMAL RANGE. NOTE THAT THERE ARE NO MONITORED STREAMS ON THE BIG ISLAND AND MAUI COUNTY IN THE SIGNIFICANT DROUGHT AREAS. AVERAGE STREAM FLOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO RANK IN THE NEAR NORMAL RANGE BASED ON SEASONAL CONSIDERATIONS. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON MARCH 7 2013 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...HAWAII.GOV/DLNR/DROUGHT/INDEX.HTML 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 HAWAII DROUGHT IMPACT REPORTER...HAWAII.DROUGHTREPORTER.UNL.EDU/ 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 $$