Official: South Dakota Drought Not Over

June 18, 2008
AP

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Despite a National Weather Service statement in Sioux Falls that the long drought is pretty much over in western South Dakota, an extension service official in Pennington County is not convinced.

Extension educator Bill Keck argues that the drought will not be over until Pactola Reservoir, south of Rapid City, is filled and stays filled.

"For western South Dakota, I do not say it's over," he said. "Pactola is not filled. The old saying is that 'You are only one day away from a drought. If today it quits raining, we're back into the drought."'

Susan Sanders, meteorologist with the NWS in Rapid City, said there are still some abnormally dry conditions in the extreme northern part of the state and the southwest corner.

"The drought situation has greatly improved, though we haven't overcome our deficit from the past seven or eight years," she said.

Moisture levels so far this year are almost double from where they were last year, Sanders said. Since Jan. 1, there have been 12.4 inches of rain reported at the Rapid City airport compared with 6.55 inches last year at this time.

Sanders hesitated to say the drought is over, just that conditions have improved.

A new precipitation outlook is to be released Thursday, which Sanders said is a forecast for the next couple of months and will give the NWS a better idea of what is to come.

As of June 12 there were virtually no areas in South Dakota in drought, thanks to substantial and consistent rains this spring, said Mike Gillespie, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls.

But he said South Dakota still is not out of danger.

"If we even go two to four weeks of no precipitation with very hot conditions, and especially with the South Dakota wind, things are going to dry out really fast," Gillespie said.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/2008-06-18-south-dakota-drought_N.htm