000 AXHW70 PHFO 112020 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-122200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 1015 AM HST THU JUN 11 2009 ...VERY DRY SPRING HAS INCREASED DROUGHT SEVERITY AND COVERAGE... SYNOPSIS... AFTER SOME DROUGHT RELIEF DURING THE WET SEASON...THE HAWAIIAN WARM/DRY SEASON HAS STARTED WITH VERY DRY CONDITIONS AT MANY LOCATIONS ACROSS THE STATE DURING MAY. AS A RESULT...SOME OF THE EXISTING DROUGHT AREAS ON MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND HAVE WORSENED AND NEW AREAS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST MONTH. ON WEST MAUI...EXISTING MODERATE DROUGHT...OR D1 CATEGORY IN THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP...HAS DETERIORATED INTO SEVERE DROUGHT...OR D2 CATEGORY...DUE TO CONTINUING RAINFALL DEFICITS. MODERATE DROUGHT HAS ALSO SPREAD INTO THE EAST-FACING SLOPES OF MAUI...MOLOKAI AND THE BIG ISLAND DUE TO WELL BELOW NORMAL TRADE WIND RAINFALL. SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS ALSO PERSIST OVER PORTIONS OF THE NORTH KONA...SOUTH KONA AND SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICTS OF THE BIG ISLAND AND WILL LIKELY DETERIORATE FURTHER IN THE COMING WEEKS. KAUAI AND OAHU DO NOT HAVE AREAS UNDER A DROUGHT CLASSIFICATION THOUGH THIS MAY CHANGE WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH OR SO ESPECIALLY ACROSS LEEWARD AREAS WITH ONLY LIMITED RAINFALL EXPECTED. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. NO DROUGHT IMPACTS SO FAR...THOUGH REPORTS INDICATE DETERIORATING PASTURE CONDITIONS. OAHU. NO CHANGES SINCE MAY 7. WATER LEVELS IN THE WAIMANALO RESERVOIR REMAIN AT PRE-DROUGHT LEVELS. HOWEVER...A MANDATORY 20 PERCENT CUTBACK IN IRRIGATION WATER USE REMAINS IN PLACE AS A PRECAUTION. MOLOKAI. KUALAPUU RESERVOIR LEVELS HAVE BEEN SLOWLY DROPPING AND A MANDATORY 10 PERCENT REDUCTION IN IRRIGATION WATER USE REMAINS IN EFFECT. LANAI. PASTURE AND OTHER VEGETATION CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN DECLINING OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS. MAUI. THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY REQUESTS THAT RESIDENTS IN CENTRAL MAUI CONTINUE TO VOLUNTARILY REDUCE WATER USE BY 10 PERCENT. UPCOUNTRY WATER SUPPLIES HAVE BEEN DROPPING SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE PAST MONTH AND WATER RESTRICTIONS MAY BE IMPLEMENTED IF DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE. PASTURE CONDITIONS ARE ALSO WORSENING. BIG ISLAND. CONDITIONS HAVE QUICKLY DETERIORATED ALONG THE EAST-FACING SLOPES OF THE BIG ISLAND AND SOME FARMERS IN THE HILO AREA HAVE NOT PLANTED CROPS BECAUSE OF POOR SOIL MOISTURE. A RANCHER IN HONOKAA ALSO INDICATED HAVING TO ROTATE CATTLE FREQUENTLY BECAUSE OF POOR GRASS GROWTH. VEGETATION REMAINS VERY DRY IN THE INTERIOR AND LEEWARD AREAS OF THE ISLAND. BRUSH FIRE DANGER HAS BEEN RATED AS HIGH TO EXTREME IN THESE DROUGHT-AFFECTED AREAS AND ESPECIALLY IN THE POHAKULOA REGION OF THE HAMAKUA DISTRICT. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...CONDITIONS IN THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC REFLECT AN ENSO NEUTRAL STATE. THE LATEST OBSERVATIONS AND DYNAMICAL LONG RANGE FORECASTS INDICATE CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR A TRANSITION TO EL NINO DURING THE JUNE THROUGH AUGUST 2009 TIME FRAME. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN OUTLOOK ISSUED ON MAY 21 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES PROBABILITIES FAVORING BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION FROM JUNE THROUGH AUGUST. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED ON JUNE 18. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 28-DAY AVERAGES INDICATE STREAMFLOW AT NEAR TO WELL BELOW NORMAL LEVELS ACROSS THE STATE. GIVEN THE PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK...OVERALL STREAMFLOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN LOW DURING THE SUMMER. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON JULY 9 2009 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... WWW.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 $$