KAILUA-KONA — The drought that plagued West Hawaii earlier this year appears to be a thing of the past.
KAILUA-KONA — The drought that plagued West Hawaii earlier this year appears to be a thing of the past.
Following tinder-dry conditions in the spring, downpours during the last few months greened up pasture land, awakened coffee orchards that went dormant and brought plumpness to ripening fruit.
The Honaunau gauge posted a record May, with a whopping 10.5 inches of rainfall, more than twice the average for that month. Waimea had its highest rainfall in nearly two decades, and the slopes of the Kohala Mountains were soaked with totals ranging from two to seven times normal levels.
The moisture also calmed down the feral pigs, which came out of the brush in droves earlier in the spring to dig up irrigation lines, destroy fences and root through damp places on people’s lawns in search of water.
Coffee farmers worried the driest January on record in Kealakekua would keep orchards dormant and hinder the crop from blooming.
That concern is mostly pau.
At Kurt Schweickhard’s 6-acre coffee and macadamia nut farm close to the 1,800-foot elevation mark in Kainaliu, it has rained just about every day for weeks. The first week of June had 4 inches of precipitation so far on top of about 14 inches for May.
“It’s been good,” he said. “People need to fertilize, and we do want the moisture.”
Schweickhard has watched the weather throughout two decades and says things have changed, with fewer heavy storms arriving to bring relief in late winter and early spring.
“That’s why we had the drought hit; a lot of these storms that kept things moving along have been pushed away,” he said.
Much of the island’s dry “wet” season was chalked up to El Nino, which brought a stable air pattern to the Islands and a big reduction in storms and showers. Those dry conditions, combined with a heavy fuel load from a wet 2015 summer and numerous cases of suspected arson in West Hawaii, led to twice as much land being burned by wildfire compared to the previous year, according to National Weather Service Senior Hydrologist Kevin Kodama. The dry conditions also retarded mosquito breeding, helping get the island’s dengue fever outbreak under wraps.
Drought intensified in March, but April rains began to loosen its grip on the island. The latest round of relief has been mostly in west and north Hawaii regions, however, and half of the island’s gauges are still less than 50 percent of average for the first five months of the year.
Three gauges in Waimea measured from 3.7-7.2 inches for May, for totals 116 to 182 percent above average, respectively. Honokaa, with 10 inches, was 150 percent of normal.
Kaloko-Honokohau was 83 percent of normal with 1.46 inches. Waikoloa had 1.5 inches, half the normal.
The gauges might never catch up with last year, but meteorologists with the NOAA Climate Prediction Center are predicting above normal rain for the latter half of the dry season that runs May through September.
Ken Love, executive director of the Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers Association, said the rainfall will help crops harvested in the fall, but too much rain now could cause the lychee and mangoes to split.
“Usually, this kind of rain is what we get in March,” said Love, who grows avocados and other fruits in Kealakekua. “Things are twisted around, and it’s hard to tell what the effects will be yet.”
The winter’s drought appeared to have little effect on Lake Waiau, near the summit of Mauna Kea. Water levels in the lake have steadily improved since a period in 2013 when the lake was little more than a crusty puddle because of a dry spell spanning several years. A photo taken last month by rangers with the Office of Mauna Kea Management shows the green lake near its rim.
“Lake Waiau is a great indicator for long term environmental conditions or trends,” said Ian Cole, Natural Area Reserve specialist for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, in an email. “Currently the lake level appears fine, even though it has been a slightly lower than average year for precipitation — in contrast to several years ago, when prolonged drought and well below average precipitation produced a frighteningly low water level. It seems that Lake Waiau’s response to prolonged drought has a lag time, but it is quick to respond to increased or normal precipitation levels.”
Email Bret Yager at byager@westhawaiitoday.com.