000 AXHW70 PHFO 081928 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-092200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 930 AM HST THU NOV 8 2012 ...VERY SLOW START TO THE 2012-2013 WET SEASON... SYNOPSIS... INSTEAD OF A SEASONAL INCREASE IN RAINFALL OCTOBER BROUGHT RECORD LOW PRECIPITATION TOTALS AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS ACROSS THE STATE. MOST OF THE RECORDS BROKEN WERE ON KAUAI AND OAHU WHICH RESULTED IN A DEGRADATION OF EXISTING DROUGHT CONDITIONS. ON KAUAI...EXISTING SEVERE DROUGHT...OR D2 CATEGORY CONDITIONS IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...WORSENED TO EXTREME DROUGHT...OR THE D3 CATEGORY...IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE ISLAND. FOR OAHU...MODERATE DROUGHT...OR D1 CONDITIONS...WORSENED TO SEVERE DROUGHT LEVELS ON THE LEEWARD AREAS OF THE WAIANAE RANGE. THE REST OF THE STATE REMAINS LARGELY UNCHANGED IN TERMS OF DROUGHT COVERAGE. EXTREME DROUGHT IS ENTRENCHED OVER THE SOUTHWEST SLOPES OF LANAI...WESTERN MOLOKAI AND SOUTHWEST MAUI FROM KIHEI TO MAKENA. BIG ISLAND EXTREME DROUGHT COVERAGE INCLUDES 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 CONDITIONS IN MAUI COUNTY COVER CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN 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. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. EARLIER REPORTS INDICATED POOR PASTURE CONDITIONS IN THE AREA FROM KALAHEO TO HANAPEPE. OTHER AREAS WITH POOR PASTURE CONDITIONS INCLUDE THE REGION FROM KOLOA TO MAHAULEPU...AND FROM KEALIA TO KALEPA. THE WATER LEVEL IN THE ALEXANDER RESERVOIR IN SOUTH KAUAI HAS DROPPED SO LOW THAT IRRIGATION WATER SERVICE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED. CATTLE HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE MAHAULEPU AREA DUE TO POOR PASTURE CONDITIONS. OAHU. 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 OCTOBER 4 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 OCTOBER 4 UPDATE. AN EARLIER REPORT FROM LANAI INDICATED THAT THE MIDDLE AND LOWER ELEVATIONS OF THE ISLAND...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE NORTH-...EAST- AND SOUTH-FACING SLOPES...REMAIN VERY DRY AND THAT 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. A LOW WATER SUPPLY HAS REDUCED PRODUCTION AT THE OLINDA WATER TREATMENT FACILITY IN UPCOUNTRY MAUI. PASTURES AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS REMAIN VERY POOR IN SOUTHWEST MAUI...ESPECIALLY FROM KAONOULU TO KAMAOLE. PASTURES IN THIS AREA AND NEAR KAUPO WERE DESTOCKED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO DUE TO LACK OF SUFFICIENT FORAGE. THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY HAS CONTINUED THE ONGOING 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 REMAINS IN EFFECT. BIG ISLAND. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES SINCE THE OCTOBER 4 UPDATE. THE RECENT BELOW AVERAGE RAINFALL HAS SO FAR NOT PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS OVER THE WINDWARD SECTIONS OF THE ISLAND THOUGH THIS WILL CHANGE IF RAINFALL FAILS TO INCREASE SOON. EARLIER REPORTS FROM THE KAU...NORTH KONA...SOUTH KONA AND SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICTS INDICATED SIGNIFICANT DROUGHT IMPACTS TO THE RANCHING, ORNAMENTAL PLANT, FRUIT ORCHARD, AND BEE INDUSTRIES. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS REMAIN IN PLACE. PROBABILITIES FAVOR THE PERSISTENCE OF ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS THROUGH THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTER. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON OCTOBER 18 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT PROBABILITIES FAVOR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE REST OF 2012. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON NOVEMBER 15. 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 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 REMAIN BELOW NORMAL BASED ON THE LATEST PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON DECEMBER 6 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 $$