Drought in Hawaii, April 1 to 30, 2000

Though shear-line weather in the early part of April brought much needed rainfall to many parts of the Hawaiian Islands, dry conditions persisted in drought-stricken areas in Maui County and on the Big Island of Hawaii. Trade-wind weather, in the moderate to fresh range, was the dominant pattern for more than half the month. This pattern allowed some rainfall to occur in windward and mountain sections around the island chain, but it did not in any way alleviate the precipitation shortfall in the drought areas.Maui CountyAs was the case in March, windward areas of Maui were relatively wet while leeward sections remained dry. The active showers over the windward areas of Haleakala helped sustain water levels in ditches that supply agriculture and residential areas of Upcountry Maui. The highest rainfall total came from the gage at Kahakuloa (4.51 inches, 102 percent of average). About 90 percent of this total occurred during the first ten days of April. The highest positive anomaly belonged to the Pukalani site with its 3.86 inches, which was 148 percent of average. Of this total, 2.21 inches fell on 1 April during the passage of the first shear line of the month.The persistence of trade winds for most of April translated into very little rain over leeward areas. The gage at Kihei logged only 0.05 of an inch of rain (4 percent of average), while the Lahainaluna site reported only 0.16 of an inch (9 percent of average). Just four miles north of the Lahainaluna site is the gage at Mahinahina. The presence of strong trades during portions of the month helped force enough rainfall over and around the northern end of west Maui to push the April total at the site to 4.16 inches, or 89 percent of average.The three Hydronet sites on the islands of Molokai and Lanai reported totals of between 20 and 40 percent of average.Island of HawaiiAs was the situation in Maui, most of the rainfall on the Big Island occurred over windward areas. Five windward sites reported over 10 inches of rain. However, these totals were not impressive by windward Big Island standards and were below the April average at four of the five sites. The lone exception was the gage at Honokaa, where 12.02 inches turned out to be 121 percent of average. Unlike the rest of the island chain, the heaviest rains on the Island of Hawaii were not associated with the shear-line weather early in the month. Instead, the highest totals occurred during a three-day period of wet trades from 9 to 11 April.Gages in leeward areas of the island reported totals at less than 30 percent of average. The Kau District was especially dry, with the gages at Kapapala and Pahala reporting only 0.03 and 0.04 of an inch, respectively. Barring an unseasonable influx of precipitation, these drought-stricken areas will continue to deteriorate during the upcoming warm season.The following list contains rainfall statistics for selected locations from Maui County and the island of Hawaii. The first column is the observed rainfall for April. 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 year-to-date percent of average, respectively. YTD Apr 00 Avg. %Avg. YTD %Avg.Maui Kahului 1.26 1.80 70 2.66 23 Hana 3.79 9.00 42 13.26 38 Kihei 0.05 1.20 4 0.13 1 Lahainaluna 0.16 1.70 9 0.46 4 Wailuku 1.69 3.00 56 4.98 32 Kula 0.36 2.80 13 2.42 17 Ulupalakua 0.23 2.70 9 2.32 14Molokai Kaunakakai 0.45 1.20 38 1.63 18Lanai Lanai City 0.79 3.50 23 3.12 18Island of Hawaii Hilo Airport 7.25 15.30 47 31.45 64 Pahala 0.04 5.00 1 6.75 27 Honaunau 0.72 6.10 12 4.37 24 Kamuela (Upper) 6.20 6.90 90 19.08 76 Glenwood 10.32 17.20 60 43.69 62 Laupahoehoe 13.04 18.90 69 39.14 60 Kamakoa 0.12 1.70 7 0.41 5 Kapapala 0.03 6.70 0 4.28 15Ranchers and farmers continued to feel the effects of the ongoing drought, especially in parts of the Big Island of Hawaii. Some ranchers on the Big Island had decided by the end of April to ship 6000 head of young cattle to Canada. The cattle, many of them weighing only about two-thirds of what they should on average, are being sent to Vancouver, British Columbia, and will be pasturing in Alberta and the northwest part of the mainland. Drought conditions have drastically reduced the normal feed for the livestock on the Island of Hawaii.