Drought — West Hawaii Including Leeward Kohala and Kona, Hawaii

1999-10-01 to 1999-10-31 · West Hawaii Including Leeward Kohala and Kona, Hawaii

Wider weather episode

Although the 1999-2000 cool season for the Hawaiian Islands kicked off dramatically during October with the development of a large Kona storm to the northwest of the island chain, sections of the southern and western parts of the island of Hawaii remained drought-stricken. The storm itself brought periods of heavy rainfall and varying degrees of flooding across the state from 18 through 21 October. Flash flood warnings were issued for portions of Kauai (18 and 19 October) and Oahu (19 October), where two to five inches of rain fell within a 24-hour period.Conditions prior to and after the Kona storm mainly involved moderate trade winds over the state. Shower areas embedded within this trade flow brought intermittent light to moderate rains to all the islands with daily totals mostly under one inch.Island of HawaiiDespite the presence of the Kona storm, October rainfall totals for the island of Hawaii were relatively modest. Only two sites, Kamakoa and Waiaha, reported above average rainfall for the month. The two sites in the Kau District, Kapapala Ranch and Pahala, were close to average at 90 and 92 percent, respectively. The highest four-day total from the Kona storm was 3.73 inches at Kapapala Ranch, most of which fell on 20 October (3.57 inches). The second highest total was 3.67 inches at Waiaha. Most of the remaining sites reported less than two-inch storm totals.An overall drying trend that started in mid-April 1999 continues for the windward side of the island. Back in April, seven out of eight sites had year-to-date totals above average. Now, only two windward sites (Mt. View and Glenwood) have year-to-date totals above average. Conversely, sites in the Kona and Kau Districts have been showing improvement, albeit slowly.The following list contains rainfall statistics for selected locations from the island of Hawaii. The first column is the observed rainfall for October. 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 Oct 99 Avg. %Avg. YTD %Avg.Island of Hawaii Hilo Airport 3.61 9.6 38 91.43 89 Pahala 3.88 4.2 92 17.46 40 Honaunau 4.41 5.2 85 26.03 45 Kamuela (Upper) 3.25 3.7 88 48.13 103 Glenwood 8.82 10.2 86 157.63 121 Laupahoehoe 3.04 9.3 33 79.37 65At the beginning of October, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources went ahead and closed portions of the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve, all of the Kaohe Game Management Area, and all roads at Pu'u La'au and Skyline on the Big Island of Hawaii. This had been planned at the end of September. Drought conditions had created such dry vegetation that state officials decided to close the affected areas to lessen the chance of brush fires.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5723341. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.