Current Impacts
To see or report current drought impacts, please visit the Drought Impacts Toolkit, where you can find impacts from media in the Drought Impact Reporter and from citizen scientists and other volunteer observers under Condition Monitoring Observations.
Historic Impacts
No two states have the same experience during a drought. Below are examples of some of the impacts experienced in Hawaii in the past. The process for developing this example impact table is described in Noel, M., Bathke, D., Fuchs, B., Gutzmer, D., Haigh, T., Hayes, M., Poděbradská, M., Shield, C., Smith, K. and Svoboda, M., 2020. Linking drought impacts to drought severity at the state level. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(8), pp.E1312-E1321. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0067.1. To view a more complete record, and to filter impacts by drought severity, sector and season, check out the interactive State Impacts Tool.
| Category | Examples of historically observed impacts |
|---|
| D0 | Corn quality declines; less water is available for irrigation |
| Hiking trails are noticeably dry with soil erosion |
| D1 | Concerns about fire danger increase |
| More bugs observed than normal |
| Pasture and crop growth is stunted; farmers are not allowed to use reservoir water for irrigation |
| Water levels decline; voluntary water restrictions are issued; reservoir levels are depleted in high elevations |
| D2 | Fire danger is high |
| Pasture conditions are very dry/poor; cattle health is poor; protea, coffee bean, sugar cane crops struggle |
| Reservoir levels are low; springs are dried up; mandatory water restrictions are implemented |
| D3 | Fires spread rapidly; outdoor burn bans are implemented |
| Producers cull cattle, buy supplements and haul water for livestock |
| Sugar cane producer lays off many employees |
| Trees are dry and dropping leaves; feral donkeys move into populated areas |
| Water production is reduced |
| D4 | Cattle die; cattle conception rates are reduced |
| Hunting areas and hiking trails may be closed due to increased fire danger |
| Specialty crops, orchards are dying |
| Surface water is severely impacted |
| Tree beetle populations decline |