AXHW70 PHFO 051805 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-061805- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 805 AM HST THU APR 5 2012 ...DROUGHT HOLDING FIRM IN LEEWARD MAUI COUNTY AND THE BIG ISLAND... SYNOPSIS... EARLY MARCH LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS DRENCHED MOST OF KAUAI AND OAHU. WINDWARD AREAS OF MAUI COUNTY AND THE BIG ISLAND RECEIVED AMPLE RAINFALL BUT LEEWARD AREAS...ESPECIALLY ON THE BIG ISLAND...HAD ONLY LIMITED AMOUNTS OF RAIN. THUS...THE DROUGHT LIVES ON FOR YET ANOTHER MONTH. DURING MARCH...WESTERN MOLOKAI GOT ENOUGH RAIN TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS FROM THE D4 CATEGORY...OR EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT ON THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...TO THE D3 CATEGORY...OR EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS. LEEWARD MAUI ALSO SHOWED SOME IMPROVEMENT WITH EXTREME DROUGHT TRANSITIONING TO SEVERE DROUGHT...OR D2 CONDITIONS...OVER WEST MAUI AND SOUTHEAST HALEAKALA. HOWEVER...EXTREME DROUGHT PERSISTED OVER SOUTHWEST HALEAKALA FROM KIHEI TO MAKENA. THE BIG ISLAND MAINTAINED ITS STRONG CONTRAST IN CONDITIONS WITH WINDWARD SLOPES DROUGHT-FREE AND EXTREME DROUGHT PERSISTING OVER THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT AND THE POHAKULOA REGION OF THE HAMAKUA DISTRICT. SEVERE DROUGHT ALSO CONTINUED OVER THE NORTH AND SOUTH KONA DISTRICTS AND WEST-FACING SLOPES OF THE KAU DISTRICT. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. THERE WERE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT AS KAUAI HAD EXCESSIVE RAINFALL DURING MARCH. OAHU. THE WATER SUPPLY IN THE WAIMANALO RESERVOIR HAS INCREASED TO PRE-DROUGHT LEVELS. HOWEVER...A MANDATORY 10 PERCENT WATER USE RESTRICTION REMAINED IN PLACE AS A PRECAUTION HEADING INTO THE DRY SEASON. MOLOKAI. THE WATER LEVEL IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR INCREASED SEVERAL FEET BUT REMAINS VERY LOW. THUS...THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HAS CONTINUED A MANDATORY 30 PERCENT REDUCTION IN THE USE OF IRRIGATION WATER. LANAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE MARCH 8 UPDATE. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN VERY POOR. AXIS DEER HAVE BEEN ENCROACHING POPULATED AREAS OF THE ISLAND FOR FORAGE DUE TO POOR SUPPLIES ELSEWHERE. MAUI. RAINFALL IN LATE FEBRUARY AND EARLY MARCH HELPED BRING IMPROVEMENTS TO PASTURES AND VEGETATION. HOWEVER...CONDITIONS REMAIN POOR OVER THE SOUTHWEST SLOPE OF HALEAKALA. SOME RANCHERS HAVE DESTOCKED PASTURES IN THESE AREAS DUE TO POOR FORAGE CONDITIONS. THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY HAS CONTINUED TO CALL 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 ALSO REMAINED IN EFFECT. BIG ISLAND. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE MARCH 8 UPDATE. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION OVER MOST OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT WERE IN VERY POOR CONDITION. REPORTS INDICATED THAT THERE WAS LITTLE OR NO EDIBLE FORAGE FOR LIVESTOCK. RANCHERS IN THESE AREAS HAVE ALREADY DESTOCKED CATTLE AND WATER HAULING OPERATIONS HAVE BEEN ONGOING FOR SEVERAL MONTHS. SOME KONA COFFEE GROWERS HAVE HAD TO IRRIGATE MORE THAN NORMAL TO SUSTAIN THEIR ORCHARDS. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...LA NINA HAS WEAKENED ACROSS THE TROPICAL PACIFIC. THE FORECAST CALLS FOR LA NINA TO TRANSITION TO ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS DURING APRIL 2012. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON MARCH 15 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT PROBABILITIES DO NOT TILT IN FAVOR OF ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION DURING SPRING 2012. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON APRIL 19. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MONTHLY STREAM FLOW AVERAGES FOR MARCH INDICATED THAT ALL OF THE MONITORED STREAMS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII WERE IN THE NORMAL TO ABOVE NORMAL RANGE. WHILE THE PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY MEANINGFUL SIGNAL...THE APPROACH OF THE DRY SEASON SUGGESTS THAT AVERAGE STREAM FLOW LEVELS WILL DECREASE OVER THE NEXT MONTH OR SO. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON MAY 3 2012 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 $$