December brought rainfall to most of the windward Big Island, but most of the gauges islandwide registered less than the average amount of precipitation for the final month of the year. That, as it turned out, was the conclusion to a 2023 that generally was drier-than-normal.
That might not have been apparent, especially in East Hawaii, where enough wet-season rain fell to keep the landscape green.
“It’s been wetter than expected, considering that there’s this strong El Nino in place,” said Kevin Kodama, senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu. “It’s a surprise, in a good way, because that means we’re not getting the drought impacts that we were expecting. But that said, we’re still in an El Nino, and that could’ve just been an anomaly, a deviation. And the climate (computer) models are still projecting drier-than-normal conditions for the rest of the wet season.”
Hilo International Airport received 7.62 inches in December, or 63% of its norm. That brought its 2023 total to 102.78 inches, 85% of an average year.
The Papaikou Well gauge registered 12.86 inches last month, 83% of its average December. That location measured 151.2 inches for 2023, 75% of its yearly average of 202.58 inches. And 9.37 inches of rain fell in Pahoa, 83% of the December norm of 11.29 inches. The lower Puna village saw 117.62 inches in 2023, 86% of its yearly average rainfall of 136.83 inches.
That made for green Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, with perhaps few noticing the year has been dry by historical standards.
Kodama continues to stand by climatologists’ predictions for the drier conditions negatively affecting the everyday lives of residents.
“While the worst impacts have been mitigated by the rainfall, it doesn’t mean that we’re completely out of the woods, yet,” he said. “The areas and sectors that might be vulnerable to short-term rainfall deficits should still be vigilant and practice water conservation measures, just in case.”
A drive around the island confirms that not all areas are sharing in the relative abundance of rainfall.
“The central region of the Big Island, the Saddle region and up into the leeward Kohala area, is still in drought,” Kodama said. “It isn’t as bad as before, but December was still pretty dry.”
Waikoloa received just 0.22 inches, 13% of its average of 1.66 inches for December. The South Kohala village tallied 11.71 inches in 2023, 92% of its norm of 12.71 inches. And the perpetually sunny tarmac at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Keahole recorded a scant 0.14 inches for the month, just 13% of its December norm of 1.06 inches. That brought the airport’s 2023 rainfall total to 8.66 inches, an inch-and-change less than its normal yearly total of 9.87 inches.
One exception to the drier-than-normal conditions is the Kona coffee belt — which, unlike most of the state — experiences its wet season in the summer and is currently supposed to be in its dry season. Three of the four official gauges in the coffee belt registered wetter-than-normal December rainfall totals.
Waiaha received 3.02 inches, 114% of its norm of 2.66 inches. Honaunau measured 3.75 inches, 134% of its December average of 2.8 inches. Kainaliu tallied 5.26 inches, almost twice its 2.73 inches norm. The only exception was Kealakekua, which recorded 2.49 inches, just a quarter inch less than its December average.
Three of the four coffee belt gauges — Waiaha, Kainaliu and Kealakekua — received higher-than-average rainfall for the year, with Waiaha’s total of 67.46 the wettest and 43% higher than its yearly average. The NWS report was missing a year-end rainfall total for Honaunau.
Bill Myers, CEO of Heavenly Hawaiian 100% Kona Coffee Farms in Holualoa, said that, so far, it appears there hasn’t really been a dry season in the coffee belt, and it’s causing abnormal reactions in the trees that grow Kona’s signature legal cash crop.
“It’s leading to a series of early flowerings, and while that might sound like a good thing, it’s not,” Myers said. “Early flowerings mean we end up picking coffee early, and we don’t have the labor force to manage that. The thing that we’re doing, and other coffee growers are doing, is we’ve accelerated our pruning schedule. So we’ve finished pruning most of our farm, at this point. Last year, it was at the end of February that we were done. This year, it’ll be before the end of January, and that allows us to remove a lot of those flowers before they turn to cherry.
“There are ways to mitigate the damage, and it’s not serious damage. But we’ve had a lot of (rain), and farmers in general are taking the steps to limit the consequences.”
Myers said some coffee farmers are starting to plant trees, which he said is a reaction to the wet weather as if it’s going to last through the dry season. He said he’s not doing that and described it as a risky move, because if the El Nino brings the dry weather predicted during the winter months, those farms will have to irrigate the new trees.
“We still think we’re going to get some dry season, and that’s what we want,” he said. “We’re going to hold off our planning until March, but that’s not a sure thing.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.