The severe drought on Hawaii's Big Island also is causing severe brush fires, according to Kevin Kodama, senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
“Brush fires have increased over the past month due to the very dry vegetation conditions,” Kodama wrote in a Aug. 5 statement. “An ongoing fire in the Waikii and Waikoloa areas of the South Kohala District burned over 40,000 acres, which is a record-breaking size for the Big Island.”
On June 28 the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared Hawaii County a natural disaster area because of the drought, Kodama wrote.
“The declaration allows farm operators in the county to be eligible for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency," he noted.
In mid-July, severe drought on Big Island reached eastward into the Hamakua region but has retreated back to Waimea and Mana Road, Kodama said.
“More recently, severe drought spread from Waikoloa into the Pohakuloa region in the interior of the island,” he wrote, adding that the outlook is for below normal rainfall for the summer and fall of 2021.
“Probabilities favor near-normal temperatures for the rest of the summer and into the fall, and are tilted toward above normal temperatures late in 2021 and into early 2022,” he said.
The situation is the opposite in the Kona coffee belt, Kodama wrote.
“The summer months are part of the wet season on the Kona slopes, and the expected rainfall should be enough to mitigate drought development in this area,” he said. “With the exception of the Kona slopes of the Big Island, leeward areas of the state are expected to have a continuation of dry conditions for the remainder of the summer and into fall. This is based on the probabilities favoring below normal rainfall for the next several months.”
According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, “Droughts have affected the islands throughout Hawaii’s recorded history. Drought forecasting is necessary to help prepare the state for potentially devastating drought events, and forecasting tools have improved over the past few years.”