000 AXHW70 PHFO 061834 DGTHFO HIC001-003-007-009-072200- DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 840 AM HST THU FEB 6 2014 ...DROUGHT LOOSENS ITS GRIP ON MAUI COUNTY AND THE BIG ISLAND... SYNOPSIS... SEVERAL COLD FRONTS DURING JANUARY WERE ABLE TO MOVE ACROSS THE ISLAND CHAIN AND REACH THE BIG ISLAND. THESE FRONTS BROUGHT MUCH NEEDED RAIN TO THE WEST-FACING SLOPES AND HELPED IMPROVE PASTURE AND GENERAL VEGETATION CONDITIONS. MOST OF THE DROUGHT AREAS ACROSS MAUI COUNTY AND THE BIG ISLAND IMPROVED BY AT LEAST ONE-CATEGORY ON THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP OVER THE PAST MONTH. EXTREME DROUGHT...OR THE D3 CATEGORY...EASED TO SEVERE DROUGHT...OR THE D2 CATEGORY OVER THE POHAKULOA AREA OF THE BIG ISLAND AND THE KIHEI AREA OF MAUI. THE ONLY D3 AREA LEFT IN THE STATE COVERED PORTIONS OF WESTERN MOLOKAI SERVICED BY THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR. MODERATE DROUGHT...OR THE D1 CATEGORY...HAS BEEN REDUCED IN SIZE AND COVERED THE LOWER LEEWARD SLOPES OF WEST MAUI FROM LAHAINA TO MAALAEA...AND ON THE BIG ISLAND FROM THE LOWER LEEWARD SOUTH KOHALA SLOPES TO THE HUMUULA SADDLE AND THE UPPER SLOPES OF MAUNA LOA. KAUAI COUNTY AND OAHU REMAIN DROUGHT-FREE. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... KAUAI. THERE ARE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. OAHU. THERE ARE NO DROUGHT IMPACTS TO REPORT. MOLOKAI. THE WATER LEVEL IN THE KUALAPUU RESERVOIR HAS CONTINUED TO INCREASE SLOWLY IN RECENT WEEKS BUT REMAINS LESS THAN HALF OF CAPACITY. AS A RESULT...THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HAS CONTINUED ITS MANDATORY 30 PERCENT REDUCTION IN IRRIGATION WATER USE. LANAI. SATELLITE-BASED DATA SHOWED A REDUCTION IN STRESS ON VEGETATION HEALTH OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS AND A GAGE IN THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE ISLAND REPORTED AN ABOVE AVERAGE JANUARY RAINFALL TOTAL. MAUI. PASTURE CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED OVER THE PAST MONTH AS A RESULT OF THE RECENT BOOST IN RAINFALL. HOWEVER...THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REPORTED AN INCREASE IN FIRE WEED GROWTH DUE TO THE INCREASE IN RAINFALL WHICH PRODUCES A DIFFERENT SET OF PROBLEMS. WATER LEVELS IN RESERVOIRS SUPPLYING RESIDENTS IN THE UPCOUNTRY AREA OF THE ISLAND HAVE ALSO INCREASED. THE MAUI COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY HAS CONTINUED ITS LONG STANDING REQUEST FOR CENTRAL AND SOUTH MAUI RESIDENTS TO VOLUNTARILY REDUCE CONSUMPTION BY 10 PERCENT. BIG ISLAND. PASTURE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN IMPROVING OVER THE PAST MONTH AND EVEN FLOODING IN SOME CASES. THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH SATELLITE-BASED DATA WHICH SHOWED REDUCED VEGETATION STRESS OVER THE LEEWARD SLOPES. FOLLOW-UP RAINFALL IS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN THE RECOVERY...ESPECIALLY WITH THE DRY SEASON NOT TOO FAR OFF. CLIMATE SUMMARY... ACCORDING TO THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS REMAIN IN PLACE AND PROBABILITIES FAVOR PERSISTENCE INTO THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERIC SUMMER SEASON. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OUTLOOK ISSUED ON JANUARY 16 BY THE NOAA CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER INDICATED THAT PROBABILITIES FAVOR ABOVE MEDIAN PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WET SEASON. THE NEXT LONG-LEAD OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ON FEBRUARY 20. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INDICATED THAT ALL OF THE MONITORED STREAMS ACROSS THE STATE HAD FLOW AVERAGES FOR JANUARY IN THE NORMAL TO BELOW NORMAL RANGE. BASED ON THE PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK...FLOW AVERAGES ACROSS THE STATE SHOULD INCREASE OVER THE NEXT MONTH. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON MARCH 6 2014 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 $$