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Parched conditions
break May records
for Honolulu, Kauai

By Suzanne Tswei
Star-Bulletin

May was a parched record breaker.

The rain gauge at Lihue Airport on Kauai recorded 0.1 inch of rainfall, the lowest May reading in the 47 years since the National Weather Service began monitoring rainfall at the airport. The previous record was in May 1968 with 0.42 inch.

At Honolulu Airport, the gauge recorded 0.03 inch, which breaks the 0.05-inch record low set in 1949 for the same month.

Rainfall was dismal elsewhere in the state too, said Kevin Kodama, hydrologist for the Weather Service.

"May normally is pretty dry, but the May we just finished is even drier than normal. It's been really dry all over," Kodama said. But rainfall at airports on the Big Island and Maui did not set new records.

Hilo Airport recorded 3.36 inches of rainfall, compared to a low of 1.18 inches recorded in May 1945. At Kahului Airport, there was 0.05 inch of rain, compared to less than 0.01 inch in May 1972, which was the lowest record.

"Usually summers are pretty dry, but we are really looking at drier-than-normal conditions through the summer," Kodama said.

The lower-than-normal rainfall is making the existing drought conditions worse, particularly for farmers in the leeward areas of the islands with insufficient rainfall for a third year, he said.

So far this year, rain has been falling below normal statewide, Kodama said. In the leeward areas, rain has been only 20 percent to 40 percent of normal. In certain leeward locations, such as Waianae on Oahu, the rain has been less than 10 percent of normal.

In the wetter windward areas, rainfall totals have been between 40 to 60 percent of normal, he said.

Because of the dry condition, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply has asked the public to voluntarily conserve water use throughout the summer.