Rain leaves isles drought-free for the first time since 2015

Thanks to recent plentiful rainfall, Hawaii is completely drought-free for the first time in more than two years.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor update, issued Thursday by the National Drought Mitigation Center, shows not one single place in the islands suffering from drought or even unusually dry conditions — a situation not seen in the Aloha State since December 2015.

The west side of Hawaii island was the last stronghold for persistent drought before significant rainstorms over the past few weeks caused drought and abnormally dry conditions to back off.

The big rains were welcomed by ranchers and other agricultural concerns in West Hawaii.

“It’s looking to be a good crop year,” said Suzanne Shriner, president of the Kona Coffee Farms Association.

Shriner said heavy rain events in February caused Kona’s coffee trees to flower profusely, an excellent sign that income for coffee farmers will be up this year after crop yields were off last year due to inadequate rain and moisture-stressed trees.

In October the National Weather Service predicted a wet winter but hedged on whether the leeward sides of the islands would see as much precipitation.

In fact, the forecast held out the possibility that drought might even worsen on the leeward sides of the Big Island and the islands of Maui County, where some areas were suffering from severe and extreme drought episodes and the lingering effects of what was described as the 13th-driest dry season in the last 30 years.

Kevin Kodama, National Weather Service hydrologist, said a weak La Nina weather pattern probably led to conditions that allowed for more low-pressure systems and Kona storms to approach the islands from the south.

Despite the recent moisture, Kodama said this year’s wet season from October to April has been streaky as far as rain is concerned. October and November were relatively dry in the islands, while December was wet. January was generally dry, followed by a wet February.

Entering February, some areas of Kona hadn’t seen significant rainfall since November, Kodama said, and drought in those areas was expanding and threatening to reach severe levels before some major rain lashed the area.

Daily maximum rainfall records were set in Honolulu and Kahului on Feb. 19 and in Kahului on Feb. 15. Elsewhere a flash flood in Maui’s Waihee Valley on Feb. 18 caused significant damage to homes and property.

Overall, groundwater levels have risen, and stream flows are mostly above normal, according to the U.S. Geological Service.

Meanwhile, Diamond Head and most, if not all, mauka areas across the state are flashing a bright coat of green as a result of the recent moisture.

“It’s a wetter-than-normal season, but it’s not over yet,” said Pao-Shin Chu, state climatologist and University of Hawaii meteorology professor.

Hawaii has seen wetter winters, however. Kodama said 1982, 1987, 1990, 2004 and 2006 all experienced more precipitation.

“It’s been drier lately so people tend to forget. This is the kind of weather we normally have this time of year,” he said.

Thursday’s National Weather Service forecast said to expect more showers through the weekend and into next week but mainly focused over windward and mauka areas.

According to Maui forecaster Glenn James, who runs the Hawaii Weather Today website, it looks like the islands might finally see some drier conditions next week as northeasterly winds return along with more typical isolated to scattered windward and mountain showers.