Kauaʻi drinks up in April with overwhelmingly above average rainfall totals

April rainfall totals were abnormally high around Kauaʻi with the majority of the island seeing three to six times their normal averages.

The U.S. Geological Survey rain gauge on Mount Waiʻaleʻale had the island’s highest monthly total of 47.12 inches, a whopping 125% of its April average. It also recorded the highest daily total of 8.48 inches on April 18.

he 17th through 18th saw the heaviest rainfall with windward and interior portions of Kauaʻi and Oʻahu picking up 7 to 10 inches of rain in 24 hoursKauaʻi Emergency Management reported flash flooding near the Hanalei River Bridge that day as well.

The Mount Waiʻaleʻale monthly total was also the highest for April throughout the entire state, with the Kilohana rain gauge in second place for the month with 27.78 inches, or 126% of its normal April monthly average.

Most of the gauges on Kauaʻi ranged from slightly below to slightly above average rainfall totals for 2025 through the end of April, from about 85% to 150% of average. However, dry conditions on the south side of the island kept sites such as Port Allen, Poʻipū and ʻŌmaʻo only near 25% to 50% of average for the year so far.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor for the week of May 6, although recent trade winds brought beneficial rainfall to windward areas of Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, the precipitation was not enough to warrant any improvements at this time. 28-day average streamflows remain quite low across much of the Big Island and Maui which have the largest coverage of severe drought.

Precipitation was closer to normal the previous week of April 29, with somewhat above-normal totals in western sections and subnormal amounts farther east in the state.

Amounts were not, however, sufficient to improve conditions anywhere in the islands.

Persistently subnormal rainfall is stressing vegetation, crops and grazing lands in northeastern parts of the Big Island, according to ground reports and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/jpss/vi.php) data. Therefore, D2, or severe drought, coverage has been expanded in northeastern sections.