AXHW70 PHFO 062312 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-072200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 105 PM HST THU DEC 6 2012 ...2012-2013 WET SEASON TWO MONTHS OVERDUE... SYNOPSIS... IN OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER...RECORD LOW PRECIPITATION TOTALS OCCURRED AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN THE STATE. FORTUNATELY FOR KAUAI...THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER PRODUCED 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAINFALL WHICH SHOULD HELP BRING SOME DROUGHT RELIEF BUT THE REST OF THE STATE HAS THUS FAR REMAINED DRY. THE DROUGHT DEPICTION FOR KAUAI REMAINED UNCHANGED OVER THE PAST MONTH. THIS INCLUDES EXTREME DROUGHT...OR D3 CATEGORY CONDITIONS IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE ISLAND...AND SEVERE DROUGHT...OR THE D2 CATEGORY...OVER SOUTH KAUAI FROM KOLOA TO WAIMEA. IT IS TOO SOON TO TELL HOW MUCH IMPROVEMENT THE RECENT RAINS WILL BRING THOUGH IT IS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT ONE D-CATEGORY WORTH OF CHANGE. EXTREME DROUGHT ALSO REMAINS IN PLACE OVER THE SOUTHWEST SLOPES OF LANAI...WESTERN MOLOKAI AND SOUTHWEST MAUI FROM KIHEI TO MAKENA. BIG ISLAND EXTREME DROUGHT CONTINUES TO COVER MOST OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT...THE POHAKULOA REGION OF THE HAMAKUA DISTRICT...THE NORTH-FACING SLOPES OF HUALALAI IN THE NORTH KONA DISTRICT AND THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF SOUTHWEST KAU. SEVERE DROUGHT PERSISTS IN MAUI COUNTY ON CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN AREAS OF LANAI...THE LOWER LEEWARD SLOPES OF THE WEST MAUI MOUNTAINS...AND THE WESTERN SLOPES OF HALEAKALA FROM HAIKU TO KAUPO. ON THE BIG ISLAND...THE MAIN AREA OF SEVERE DROUGHT IS IN THE HUMUULA SADDLE. MODERATE DROUGHT...OR THE D1 CATEGORY...EXPANDED INTO THE SOUTH HILO AND PUNA DISTRICTS IN RECENT WEEKS. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE NOVEMBER 8 UPDATE. PASTURES NEAR KOLOA AND MAHAULEPU IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE ISLAND HAVE ALREADY BEEN DESTOCKED. CATTLE WEIGHTS HAVE ALSO BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED DUE TO POOR PASTURE CONDITIONS. OAHU. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE NOVEMBER 8 UPDATE. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION REMAIN IN POOR CONDITION OVER THE LEEWARD WAIANAE RANGE. WEST OAHU RANCHERS HAVE DESTOCKED PASTURES DUE TO POOR GRAZING CONDITIONS. DESPITE THE RECORD DRY CONDITIONS...THE WATER SUPPLY IN THE WAIMANALO RESERVOIR REMAINS ABOVE PRE-DROUGHT LEVELS. A VOLUNTARY 10 PERCENT REDUCTION IN WATER USE REMAINS IN PLACE AS A PRECAUTION. MOLOKAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE NOVEMBER 8 UPDATE. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS REMAIN VERY POOR WEST OF KAUNAKAKAI. THE WATER LEVEL IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR REMAINS VERY LOW. THUS...THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HAS CONTINUED A MANDATORY 30 PERCENT REDUCTION IN IRRIGATION WATER CONSUMPTION. LANAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE NOVEMBER 8 UPDATE. THE MIDDLE AND LOWER ELEVATIONS OF THE ISLAND...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE NORTH-...EAST- AND SOUTH-FACING SLOPES...REMAIN VERY DRY AND PLANTS AND ANIMALS IN THESE AREAS HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE. EVEN DROUGHT-RESISTANT PLANTS AND TREES SUCH AS KIAWE WERE STRUGGLING UNDER THE DRY CONDITIONS. MOUFLON SHEEP...AXIS DEER AND GAME BIRD POPULATIONS HAVE BEEN REDUCED. MAUI. RECENT RAINFALL OVER SOUTH MAUI NEAR ULUPALAKUA AND KEPUNI HELPED IMPROVE DROUGHT CONDITIONS BUT ONLY IN SMALL AREAS DUE TO THE HIGHLY LOCALIZED NATURE OF THE SHOWERS. THERE HAVE BEEN NO ADDITIONAL IMPACTS RECENTLY BECAUSE THE PASTURES IN THE WORST DROUGHT AREAS HAVE ALREADY BEEN DESTOCKED. PRODUCTION AT THE OLINDA WATER TREATMENT FACILITY REMAINED BELOW NORMAL DUE TO A LOW WATER SUPPLY. 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. BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL HAS FORCED SOME FARMERS TO HAUL WATER IN THE NORMALLY WET PUNA DISTRICT. ALTHOUGH RAINFALL IS ALSO BELOW NORMAL ALONG THE LOWER NORTHEASTERN SLOPES...RECENT REPORTS INDICATE THAT THERE APPEARS TO BE SUFFICIENT RAINFALL TO MEET NEEDS AND THAT VEGETATION IN MOST AREAS IS STILL GREEN. CONDITIONS REMAIN VERY POOR FOR PASTURES AND NON-IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN MOST OF THE KAU AND LEEWARD KOHALA SECTIONS OF THE ISLAND. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS REMAIN IN PLACE AND ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTER. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON NOVEMBER 15 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT PROBABILITIES DO NOT TILT IN FAVOR OF ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION. HOWEVER...DECEMBER IS NORMALLY ONE OF THE WETTEST MONTHS OF THE YEAR SO AN INCREASE IN RAINFALL RELATIVE TO THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS IS EXPECTED STRICTLY BASED ON SEASONAL ARGUMENTS. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON DECEMBER 20. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SHOWED THAT ALL OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ACROSS THE STATE HAD FLOW AVERAGES IN THE BELOW 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 INCREASE BASED ON SEASONAL ARGUMENTS INDICATED IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON JANUARY 10 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...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 $$