000 AXHW70 PHFO 111922 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-122200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 925 AM HST THU JUL 11 2013 ...DRY SEASON KICKS INTO GEAR AND DROUGHT ALREADY WORSENING ON THE BIG ISLAND... SYNOPSIS... AFTER A SLOW START...THE 2013 DRY SEASON BEGAN IN EARNEST DURING JUNE. THIS WAS ESPECIALLY TRUE ON THE BIG ISLAND WHERE DROUGHT HAS ALREADY STARTED TO WORSEN IN THE LEEWARD AREAS. EXTREME DROUGHT...WHICH IS THE D3 CATEGORY ON THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...WAS REINTRODUCED IN THE POHAKULOA REGION OF THE HAMAKUA DISTRICT AFTER A BRIEF RESPITE IN EARLY JUNE. A NEW AREA OF D3 CONDITIONS ALSO DEVELOPED OVER THE NORTHWESTERN PORTION OF THE NORTH KOHALA DISTRICT. SEVERE DROUGHT...OR THE D2 CATEGORY...REMAINED IN PLACE OVER THE UPPER SLOPES OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH KONA DISTRICTS AND EXPANDED INTO THE WAIKOLOA AND PUAKO REGIONS OF THE SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICT. IN THE KAU DISTRICT...THE AREA HIT HARDEST BY DROUGHT CONTINUES TO BE THE LOWER ELEVATIONS NEAR SOUTH POINT WHICH HAS SEEN A REDEVELOPMENT OF D2 CONDITIONS IN RECENT WEEKS. IN MAUI COUNTY...EXTREME DROUGHT OVER THE LOWER SOUTHWEST SLOPE OF HALEAKALA IN THE KIHEI AREA EXPANDED EASTWARD TO INCLUDE THE ULUPALAKUA AREA. SEVERE DROUGHT REMAINED IN PLACE OVER THE LOWER LEEWARD SLOPES OF THE WEST MAUI MOUNTAINS FROM LAHAINA TO MAALAEA. ON MOLOKAI...THE WATER SUPPLY LEVEL REMAINS LOW IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR SO THE SEVERE DROUGHT DESIGNATION REMAINS IN PLACE FOR AGRICULTURE. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO DROUGHT AREAS ON KAUAI. OAHU. THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO DROUGHT AREAS ON OAHU. MOLOKAI. ALTHOUGH RAINFALL TOTALS WERE BELOW AVERAGE IN JUNE FOR THE WEST HALF OF THE ISLAND...SATELLITE-BASED VEGETATION HEALTH DATA CONTINUE TO SHOW FAIR TO GOOD CONDITIONS OVER MOST AREAS. 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 LITTLE CHANGE IN CONDITIONS OVER THE PAST MONTH. NO RECENT GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED TO CONFIRM THIS. MAUI. A REPORT OF IMPACTS TO ULUPALAKUA RANCH INDICATED THAT LONG TERM DROUGHT CONDITIONS HAVE RESULTED IN A HERD SIZE REDUCTION OF OVER 50 PERCENT COMPARED TO 5 YEARS AGO AND THE TOTAL CONTINUES TO FALL. ESTIMATED FEED FOR LIVESTOCK WAS EVALUATED AT ONLY 31 PERCENT COMPARED TO 2008 WITH AN ECONOMIC IMPACT ESTIMATED TO BE MORE THAN HALF A MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR. 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. RANCHERS OPERATING IN THE NORTH KOHALA DISTRICT NEAR HAWI HAVE DESTOCKED THEIR PASTURES DUE TO A LACK OF FEED AND RANCHERS WITH HERDS NEAR SOUTH POINT WERE POISED TO DO THE SAME. THE POHAKULOA AREA HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS HAVING MOSTLY DIRT AND DUST INSTEAD OF GROWING VEGETATION. RANCHERS OPERATING IN THE AREA HAVE BEEN HAULING WATER TO SUSTAIN LIVESTOCK. WINDWARD SLOPES HAVE BEEN RECEIVING ALMOST DAILY RAINFALL BUT THE AMOUNT PER DAY HAS BEEN BELOW AVERAGE. WHILE THIS RAINFALL APPEARS TO BE SUFFICIENT SO FAR FOR VEGETATION...IMPACTS MAY SOON OCCUR IF RAINFALL DEFICITS INCREASE FURTHER. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS REMAIN IN PLACE AND ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST INTO THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE FALL SEASON. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON JUNE 20 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT PROBABILITIES DO NOT FAVOR ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION THROUGH JULY...THEN FAVOR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER AND INTO THE FALL. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON JULY 18. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INDICATE THAT MOST OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ON OAHU HAVE FLOW AVERAGES FOR JUNE IN THE ABOVE NORMAL RANGE. FLOW AVERAGES FOR JUNE ACROSS THE REST OF THE STATE ARE IN THE NEAR TO BELOW NORMAL RANGE. AVERAGE STREAM FLOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO DECREASE DUE TO THE FORECAST PROBABILITIES FAVORING BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE SUMMER AND INTO THE FALL. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON AUGUST 8 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 $$