According to National Weather Service’s senior service hydrologist in Honolulu, portions of the Big Island are experiencing severe drought — and he linked that drought to a record-sized fire firefighters battled in South Kohala.
“Brush fires have increased over the past month due to the very dry vegetation conditions,” wrote Kevin Kodama in his monthly drought information statement dated Thursday.
Kodama referred to a recent fire “in the Waikii and Waikoloa areas of the South Kohala District (that) burned over 40,000 acres, which is a record-breaking size for the Big Island.”
“On the Big Island, severe drought expanded eastward into the Hamakua region in mid-July but has since retreated back toward Waimea and Mana Road,” he said. “More recently, severe drought spread from Waikoloa into the Pohakuloa region in the interior of the island.”
Kodama noted that a declaration of Hawaii County as a disaster area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on June 28 “allows farm operators in the county to be eligible for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency.”
Waikii logged just 0.8 inches of rain for the month, slightly less than half of its usual norm of 1.68 inches.
Always arid Waikoloa was even more parched as usual, measuring 0.29 inches of rain, just two-thirds of its usual paltry July total of 0.43 inches. And Puuanahulu in North Kona had just 1.13 inches of rain, 55% of its July average of 2.04 inches.
Not all of the leeward Big Island is drought-stricken, however.
The Kona coffee belt, which — counter to the rest of the state — experiences its rainy season in the summertime, continues to have a wetter-than-normal summer, with all four of its official rain gauges measuring higher-than-average totals for July.
Waiaha was deluged with 14.16 inches, almost three times its 4.8-inch norm.
Kealakekua and Honaunau had more than 1.5 times its average July rainfall, with 11.67 and 10.65 inches, respectively. And Kainaliu’s 6.85 inches was slightly above its 6.67 average for the month.
“The Kona slopes region has not had below-average rainfall since April 2020,” Kodama said.
Sun-drenched Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole had just 1.09 inches in July, but even that eclipses its 0.7-inch July norm.
“With the exception of the Kona slopes … leeward areas of the state are expected to have … dry conditions for the remainder of the summer and into fall,” Kodama said. “Windward areas may have sufficient rainfall to mitigate the development of conditions worse than moderate drought.”
Most windward rain gauges were slightly below their average July rainfall, but most of East Hawaii is still above its year-to-date rainfall norms.
Hilo International Airport had 9.52 inches of rain in July, 88% of its 10.81 inches average. The airport is still 16% higher than its yearly norm for the first seven months of the year, however, with 81.34 inches — 10 inches above its average of 70.09 inches.
Glenwood, in the upper Puna rainforest, received 15.12 inches for the month, three-quarters of its July norm. Even at 121.84 inches for the year, it’s at 90% of its year-to-date total.
Piihonua, above Hilo town, had 15.92 inches, about an inch less than its July average, but is still having a rainier-than-normal year with 123.15 inches.
That’s the highest year-to-date rainfall total on the Big Island, Kodama said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.