Drought in Hawaii, August 1 to 31, 1998

Rainfall amounts were quite varied across the state for the month of August. Most of the island of Kauai received above normal rainfall along with the northeast and extreme northern sections of the Big Island. The remaining sections of the Big Island along with Oahu were generally less than normal while Maui County was well below normal.August is normally a relatively dry month with a ridge of high pressure entrenched north of the islands. However, during the month, remnants of Hurricanes Estelle and Georette passed north of the island dropping significant amounts of rainfall over much of Kauai. The Big Island was primarily affected by stronger than normal tradewinds between the 20th and 27th.Below are rainfall statistics for selected locations from around the state. The first column is the rainfall for August. The second has the 30-year average for each locations, while the third column is the percent of average rainfall for the month of August. August 98 Avg. %Avg.OahuHonolulu 0.15 0.4 38Manoa Arbor. 6.40 12.8 50Hawaii Kai 0.85 0.9 94Ahuimanu 3.17 5.9 54Waianae 0.10 0.7 14Waialua 1.03 0.8 129Maui Kahului 0.50 0.7 71Hana M 5.6 MKihei 0 0.2 0Lahainaluna 0.01 0.6 2Wailuku 0.50 0.7 71Island of HawaiiHilo 8.26 9.4 88Pahala 0.37 3.3 11Honaunau 5.31 6.5 82Kamuela (Upper) 8.10 4.4 184Kamuela 5.28 4.1 129Laupahoehoe 13.88 12.4 112MolokaiKaunakakai M 0.1 M