The drought has expanded in South Dakota. Officials say extreme drought is spreading to new areas of the state. Forecasts show no major improvements are expected in the next couple of weeks.
Sections of west central, south central and central South Dakota are now in extreme drought. Some drought areas have seen small improvement due to rainfall but dry conditions are expected to persist.
Kelly Serr with the National Weather Service says it will take widespread precipitation for the state to recover.
“Right now we’re still in thunderstorm season so rain’s always going to be hit and miss. Some people are going to catch a few inches here and there and others aren’t. There’s no strong signals in the near-term forecast of any widespread type precipitation that would cover the whole region and help to benefit everybody at this time," Serr says
Serr says the prolonged drought will have a long term impact on the state’s agriculture.
“Some crops aren’t going to recover at all no matter how much rain we get and pasture is going to take a many many weeks for any type of green-ups to occur. So the impacts are still definitely there," Serr says
Serr says there is a chance for thunderstorms early into next week for several parts of the state. She says temperatures are expected to be in the high 80’s and low 90’s for the next couple of weeks.
