A dry December led to the entire state being in drought, including the Big Island.
Most of the island is in moderate drought, with a sliver of the northern portion of West Hawaii in severe drought, according to an update Friday by the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
All of the other major islands’ leeward sides have locations in extreme drought. As of Friday, however, there was no location on the Big Island registering extreme drought.
Contributing to the widespread drought, all of the official rain gauges islandwide posted monthly rainfall totals below 50% of average for December.
Honolii Stream registered the highest December total of 5.88 inches, 34% percent of average, as well as the highest daily total of 1.56 inches on Dec. 31. Mountain View and Pahoa posted their lowest December totals on record, 3.6 inches and 3.86 inches, respectively.
Hilo International Airport had its lowest December total since 1985, 3.36 inches — a mere 28% of its December norm.
In West Hawaii, Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole measured just 0.01 inch for December, 1% of its usual 1 inch for the month. The rainiest leeward gauge was at Upolu Airport in North Kohala, at 1.53 inches, just 40% of its December average.
January also started off dry, although Thursday night into Friday morning provided some rainfall on the windward side — 0.8 inches in Glenwood, and 0.49 inches at the Hilo airport.
Vern Inouye, one of the owners of Puna Flower Power, an orchid nursery in Keaau, said his crop — which is in greenhouses — is “coming along nicely” and “doing quite well despite the dry weather.”
“We’ve had intermittent showers and have been very careful about our water consumption,” Inouye said. “We have three 8,000-gallon water tanks, and they’re all full right now. So, we’re in good shape.”
Asked if the nursery has had to buy water, Inouye replied, “No, not for awhile.”
For the year 2024, most Big Island rain gauges recorded near- to above-average rainfall totals.
Kevin Kodama, NWS Honolulu senior service hydrologist, described last year’s rainfall patterns as “big ups and downs.”
“When you look at it, it’s near average at a lot of places, but it came in big batches, not spread out over the year,” Kodama said. “You had the kona low in May, which was unusual because it was so late. Then Hurricane Hone dumped a bunch of rain in August. Outside of that, though, you had these periods of dryness. The fall was generally dry until early November, and then you got dumped on again. And then December dried out.
“So, it’s just these big ups and downs.”
Honolii Stream, near Hilo, had the Big Island’s highest annual total of 227.75 inches, 99% of average. Hilo airport checked in at just under 100 inches, 20 inches below its yearly average of 120 inches of rain. In upper Puna, Mountain View received 166.76 inches for the year, 97% of its annual norm of 127.4 inches.
Kona airport lived up to its reputation for being almost always sunny, receiving 8.74 inches of rain last year, or 89% of its 9.87 inches annual average.
Almost all leeward locations registered below-average rainfall for the year. The below-average annual totals mainly came from the North Kona District and the Pohakuloa region of the Hamakua District, according to Kodama.
Exceptions included the Kona and Ka‘u coffee belts.
Waiaha had the highest total in the Kona coffee region, with 63.27 inches, 34% above its yearly average. Kealakekua checked in at 58.44 inches, 104% of average, followed by Honaunau at 56.17 inches, right at its yearly norm, and Kainaliu with 50.62 inches, 93% of its annual average.
In the Ka‘u coffee belt, Kapapala led the way with 67.64 inches, 127% of norm, while Pahala tallied 62.48 inches, 10% above its average of 57 inches for a year.
“They benefited from the kona low and Hone, especially in the southeast, Ka‘u,” Kodama said. “And Hone did bring needed rain. But on the down side, it also caused property damage. You got runoff with flooding impacts and infrastructure issues. It’s just the big, wild swings. And even now, they’re pretty dry down there.”
Forecasters predicted a wetter-than-usual rainy season — which for most of Hawaii began Oct. 1 and runs through April. That prediction hasn’t yet come to fruition.
“It was expected to have a slow start with October and November dry, and then it would get wet December through April,” Kodama said. “But December rolled around, and rather than picking up rainfall, it got pretty dry, drier than November.
“The long-range projection, the climate (computer) models are still painting wetter-than-normal conditions through April. They haven’t backed off that. We’ll see.
“And it’s not just one model. It’s a consensus of the models.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
