000 AXHW70 PHFO 032009 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-042200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 1010 AM HST THU FEB 3 2011 ...AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT LINGERS OVER THE EAST HALF OF THE STATE... SYNOPSIS... SEVERAL COLD FRONTS DURING THE MONTH OF JANUARY BROUGHT WET CONDITIONS TO PORTIONS OF THE STATE FROM KAUAI TO MAUI. EXISTING DROUGHT AREAS IN LEEWARD MAUI COUNTY RECEIVED ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL BUT REMAINED UNDER SEVERE DROUGHT...OR THE D2 CATEGORY IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...SINCE PASTURES HAVE NOT YET RECOVERED FROM THE THE PREVIOUS DRY SPELL. THE BIG ISLAND...WHICH RECEIVED MUCH NEEDED RAINFALL IN DECEMBER...RECEIVED BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL IN JANUARY. THUS... EXTREME DROUGHT...OR D3 CATEGORY CONDITIONS...PERSISTED IN THE POHAKULOA AREA. A BAND OF MODERATE DROUGHT...OR D1 CATEGORY...ALSO CONTINUED FROM SOUTH POINT AND OCEAN VIEW ESTATES IN THE KAU DISTRICT NORTHWESTWARD TO LEEWARD KOHALA. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. THERE WERE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. OAHU. THERE WERE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. WATER LEVELS IN THE WAIMANALO RESERVOIR CONTINUED TO INCREASE OVER THE PAST MONTH. THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ONCE AGAIN EASED WATER USE RESTRICTIONS FOR FARMERS ON THE WAIMANALO SYSTEM...GOING FROM A MANDATORY 20 PERCENT CUTBACK TO A 10 PERCENT CUTBACK ON JANUARY 20. MOLOKAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE JANUARY 6. WATER LEVELS IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR CONTINUED TO INCREASE SLOWLY BUT IT WAS NOT ENOUGH TO WARRANT ANY EASING OF THE 30 PERCENT CUTBACK IN IRRIGATION WATER CONSUMPTION. LANAI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE JANUARY 6. IN 2010...DROUGHT CONDITIONS FORCED CATTLE RANCHERS TO SHIP FEED FROM OFF-ISLAND WHICH RESULTED IN FINANCIAL IMPACTS. MAUI. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE JANUARY 6. DESPITE MID-JANUARY HEAVY RAINFALL...PASTURES IN LEEWARD MAUI HAVE NOT RECOVERED ENOUGH TO FULLY SUPPORT CATTLE RANCHING OPERATIONS. WATER SUPPLY LEVELS REMAINED 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 IN THE LOWER SLOPES OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT AND THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE KAU DISTRICT IMPROVED DURING DECEMBER BUT HAVE NOT YET FULLY RECOVERED. ONE RANCHER IN SOUTH KOHALA REPORTED ONLY 40 PERCENT OF HIS PASTURES AVAILABLE FOR GRAZING. SOME RANCHERS WERE STILL HAULING WATER TO SUPPORT LIVESTOCK. RANCHERS HAVE CITED A NEED FOR ADDITIONAL RAINFALL IN THE COMING MONTHS TO PRODUCE A FULL DROUGHT RECOVERY. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...LA NINA CONDITIONS CONTINUE TO PERSIST. LA NINA IS AN ANOMALOUS COOLING OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES IN THE EQUATORIAL REGION OF THE PACIFIC. THE LATEST FORECAST CALLS FOR LA NINA TO CONTINUE INTO SPRING 2011. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON JANUARY 20 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 FEBRUARY 17. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MONTHLY STREAM FLOW AVERAGES FOR JANUARY INDICATED THAT MOST OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ON KAUAI...OAHU AND MAUI WERE AT NORMAL FLOW LEVELS. HOWEVER...ALL OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ON THE BIG ISLAND WERE AT BELOW NORMAL FLOW LEVELS. AVERAGE FLOW LEVELS ON KAUAI...OAHU AND MAUI ARE EXPECTED TO BE WITHIN THE NORMAL TO ABOVE NORMAL RANGE THROUGH SPRING 2011 BASED ON THE OUTLOOK OF ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION. BIG ISLAND STREAM FLOW LEVELS SHOULD ALSO INCREASE BASED ON THE PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON MARCH 3 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 $$