Hawaii Island has become mired in a months-long dry weather pattern. ADVERTISING Hawaii Island has become mired in a months-long dry weather pattern. “Today, it’s very hot and very dry, and the sun has definitely been stronger lately,” Neil Soicher
Hawaii Island has become mired in a months-long dry weather pattern.
“Today, it’s very hot and very dry, and the sun has definitely been stronger lately,” Neil Soicher of Honokaa, manager of Ahualoa Farms, said Wednesday.
Honokaa, which normally gets 6.13 inches of rain in August, received just 1.30 inches last month, according to the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
Almost the entire island is in a moderate drought, with the Hamakua Coast rated at “severe drought” by U.S. Drought Monitor.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported last week that pastures were in “very poor condition” for several ranchers at low elevations in Ka‘u.
The USDA indicated 45-day rainfall in that region was just 10 percent of normal.
Weather service hydrologist Kevin Kodama said the situation reminds him of 2010 and 2011, when dry weather stalled over the island. But that weather system eventually gave way to normal rainfall.
Kodama said the weather service has been getting calls from Hamakua Coast farmers worried about the lack of rainfall, especially north of Laupahoehoe.
Laupahoehoe got less than half its normal 5.14 inches, compared with its average 11.52.
Rain has fallen there occasionally, he said, but not enough to replenish deep soils.
Soicher remains unfazed and doesn’t think the drought is as severe as the Drought Monitor says.
He grows well-established orchard trees and thinks that’s a reason the drought hasn’t hit him.
“They’ve been here for years, and they’ve got very deep roots,” he said.
Had he planted new trees, he said, the drought would be bad for him. Also, Soicher said, if he was growing vegetables, he’d need to irrigate.
The strange thing about the current weather pattern, Kodama said, is how erratic it’s been.
“You’ve had days with big downpours,” he said.
“Then long periods with not much rain at all.”
Saddle Quarry actually almost doubled its normal rainfall at 23.29 inches, compared to 12.41.
In Hilo, about 8.88 inches of rain fell in August — compared to a normal of 9.85 inches. But Kodama said he was pleased Hilo’s August rainfall reached 90 percent of normal.
“Hilo did pretty good, actually,” he said. “You can’t say that about the rest of the island.”
Drought is also cyclic, Kodama said, and better weather patterns will return.
Key for many farmers, such as Soicher, is the amount of rainfall the Big Island normally gets.
“It’s generally a very wet place,” he said of his farm’s location. “So, even if our rainfall is cut in half, it’s not going to affect our trees.”
Pahoa, for example, got less than a fifth of its normal 10.17 inches in August: 1.93 inches.
Kona International Airport registered just .09 inches compared to 1.39 normally.
“Drought is a normal, recurring phenomenon in the islands,” Kodama said.
This week’s forecast includes a chance of scattered showers on the Big Island through Sunday.
Email jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
