LIHUE, Kauai >> The rain gauge at an airport on Kauai went lower last month than it has been in 66 years, according to the National Weather Service.
The gauge at the Lihue Airport recorded 1.17 inches of rain last month, two times lower than the monthly average. It hasn’t been that low since 1950, the weather service told the Garden Island newspaper.
October is the start of the wet season on Kauai and winter months usually bring heavy rains.
“The airport had a record dry December, which surprised me a bit because it’s not the normal weather pattern I’d expect for the winter months,” said Kevin Kodama, hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
The Lihue airport measured 13.39 inches of rain in 2016, compared to a yearly average of 37.05. Kodama said Kauai is in the midst of a small drought.
The island as a whole saw nearly 1,600 inches of rain last year, according to data from 26 gauges scattered across the Garden Isle. Kodama said most of the island saw a more typical rainy December, which helped a bit with drought recovery.
HAWAII ISLAND
Talk will focus on superbug threat
The emerging global threat of germs resistant to antibiotics is the subject of a talk Thursday at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Louis Lteif, an assistant professor in the UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy, will give his free presentation from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Campus Center, room 301.
According to Lteif, resistance to antibiotics is an increasing threat to humans in the 21st century. A lack of new drugs combined with overuse of existing medication could result in germs that cannot be treated with any known medicine.
Alarming examples include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a bacterium responsible for several infections that are difficult to treat, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, a lung disease caused by an organism that is resistant to at least two potent TB drugs.
Global development of antimicrobial stewardship programs could be an effective way to ward off the potential crisis, Lteif argues. His talk is part of the International Speaker Series sponsored by the United Nations Association-Hawaii Island Chapter and UH-Hilo International Student Services.
