Drought in Hawaii, November 1 to 30, 1999

Even though a Kona storm occurred early in November, much of the southern and western sections of the Big Island remained very dry. The storm itself destabilized the air mass over the western part of the state and caused heavy showers over Kauai on 3 and 4 November. Large-scale conditions stabilized somewhat after the Kona storm event, with the islands seeing mainly moderate to fresh trade winds for the remainder of the month.Island of HawaiiThough 14 of 19 sites on the Big Island received above 50 percent of average monthly November rainfall, the Kau District and parts of leeward Kohala missed out on the rainfall. The gages at Kapapala and Pahala in Kau and that of Kamakoa in leeward Kohala reported totals of less than 15 percent of average.The following list contains rainfall statistics for selected locations from the island of Hawaii. The first column is the observed rainfall for November. The second column is the 30-year average for that location, while the third column lists the percent of average rainfall for the month. The fourth and fifth columns are the year-to-date total and the percent of average, respectively. YTD Nov 99 Avg. %Avg. YTD %Avg.Island of Hawaii Hilo Airport 7.74 14.50 53 99.17 85 Pahala 0.72 5.50 13 18.18 37 Honaunau 5.03 3.60 140 31.06 50 Kamuela (Upper) 7.78 5.30 103 55.91 108 Glenwood 13.06 17.80 73 170.69 115 Laupahoehoe 12.17 13.60 89 91.54 68 Kamakoa 0.13 1.50 9 3.20 21 Kapapala 0.42 8.10 5 22.97 39