000 AXHW70 PHFO 091807 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-102200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 805 AM HST THU MAY 9 2013 ...EXTREME DROUGHT SURVIVES A FIFTH CONSECUTIVE WET SEASON ON THE BIG ISLAND... SYNOPSIS... WHILE THE WEST HALF OF THE STATE SLOWLY PULLED OUT OF DROUGHT THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE 2012-2013 WET SEASON...EXTREME DROUGHT...OR THE D3 CATEGORY IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...PERSISTED THROUGH YET ANOTHER WET SEASON ON THE BIG ISLAND. THE CURRENT AREA OF D3 CONDITIONS INCLUDES A PORTION OF THE POHAKULOA REGION OF THE HAMAKUA DISTRICT AND THE LOWER SLOPES OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT NEAR KAWAIHAE AND PUAKO. SEVERE DROUGHT...OR D2 CONDITIONS...COVER THE REST OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT AND ALSO THE UPPER SLOPES OF THE NORTH KONA AND SOUTH KONA DISTRICTS. THE ISLAND OF MAUI ALSO HAS PERSISTENT EXTREME DROUGHT OVER THE SOUTHWEST SLOPE OF HALEAKALA INCLUDING THE KIHEI...KAMAOLE...AND ULUPALAKUA AREAS. EXTREME DROUGHT ON MAUI HAS LASTED THROUGH TWO CONSECUTIVE WET SEASONS. SEVERE DROUGHT CONTINUES TO COVER THE LOWER SOUTHEAST SLOPE OF HALEAKALA NEAR KAUPO...AND THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF WEST MAUI FROM MAALAEA TO KAANAPALI. DROUGHT CONTINUES TO EASE IN PORTIONS OF WEST MOLOKAI WITH THE REMOVAL OF MODERATE DROUGHT...OR THE D1 CATEGORY. HOWEVER...SEVERE DROUGHT PERSISTS FOR AGRICULTURE AREAS SERVED BY THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR DUE TO CONTINUED LOW SUPPLY LEVELS. RESERVOIR WATER LEVELS HAVE INCREASED SLOWLY OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS BUT HAVE NOT RISEN TO PRE-DROUGHT CONDITIONS. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO DROUGHT AREAS ON KAUAI. OAHU. SEVERAL LATE SEASON COLD FRONTS BROUGHT ENOUGH RAINFALL TO REMOVE DROUGHT AS VEGETATION CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED. SEVERAL RAIN GAGES IN WEST OAHU RECORDED THEIR HIGHEST APRIL RAINFALL TOTALS IN OVER 20 YEARS. MOLOKAI. WEST MOLOKAI CONTINUES TO SEE IMPROVING AGRICULTURE AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS. SATELLITE-BASED VEGETATION HEALTH DATA SHOW GOOD CONDITIONS OVER MOST AREAS OF THE ISLAND. THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE MAINTAINED A MANDATORY REDUCTION IN IRRIGATION WATER CONSUMPTION OF 20 PERCENT FOR FARMERS SERVED BY THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR. THE RESTRICTION WAS REDUCED FROM 30 PERCENT TO 20 PERCENT ON APRIL 2 2013. LANAI. SATELLITE-BASED VEGETATION HEALTH DATA SHOW A DETERIORATION OF CONDITIONS OVER THE PAST MONTH. HOWEVER... RAINFALL OVER THE PAST WEEK MAY HAVE HALTED THE SLIDE TOWARD WORSE CONDITIONS. MAUI. ULUPALAKUA RANCH HAS JUST COMPLETED ITS DRIEST WET SEASON ON RECORD. AN EARLY MAY COLD FRONT BROUGHT SOME NEEDED RAINFALL BUT MUCH MORE IS NEEDED. PASTURES IN THE EXISTING DROUGHT AREAS...ESPECIALLY IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS NEAR KIHEI...WERE DESTOCKED MANY MONTHS AGO. THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY HAS MAINTAINED THEIR LONG-STANDING REQUEST FOR A 10 PERCENT REDUCTION IN WATER USE BY CENTRAL AND SOUTH MAUI RESIDENTS. BIG ISLAND. APRIL IS NORMALLY ONE OF THE WETTEST MONTHS OF THE YEAR FOR THE EAST-FACING SLOPES OF THE BIG ISLAND. HOWEVER...A LACK OF TRADE WIND RAINFALL RESULTED IN VERY DRY CONDITIONS. THE FARM SERVICE AGENCY REPORTED THAT GINGER ROOT AND SWEET POTATO FARMERS ARE DOING FINE SO FAR BUT DROUGHT IMPACTS WILL APPEAR IF DRY CONDITIONS PERSIST THROUGH MAY. RANCHERS NEAR SOUTH POINT INDICATED THAT PASTURE CONDITIONS ARE DETERIORATING FOLLOWING A BRIEF PERIOD OF REGROWTH. THE DRY CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN BENEFICIAL TO SOME. A RAMBUTAN FARMER MENTIONED RECENTLY THAT THE DRY WEATHER HAS STIMULATED FLOWER GROWTH...THOUGH RAINFALL WILL BE NEEDED SOON. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS REMAIN IN PLACE AND ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE SUMMER. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON APRIL 18 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT PROBABILITIES DO NOT FAVOR ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF SPRING. HOWEVER...EVEN WITH NORMAL PRECIPITATION...DECREASING AMOUNTS OF RAINFALL ARE EXPECTED HEADING INTO THE DRIEST TIME OF THE YEAR FOR MOST LOCATIONS IN THE STATE. THE SOLE EXCEPTION IS THE KONA SLOPES OF THE BIG ISLAND WHICH IS THE ONLY AREA IN THE ISLAND CHAIN WITH A DISTINCT SUMMER-TIME PEAK IN RAINFALL. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON MAY 16. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INDICATE THAT MOST OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ACROSS THE STATE HAVE FLOW AVERAGES FOR APRIL IN THE BELOW NORMAL RANGE. AVERAGE STREAM FLOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN LOW DUE TO THE ONSET OF THE DRY SEASON. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON JUNE 6 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 $$