Weather officials expect droughts in South Dakota to continue through the summer.
Most of the region remains dry, and meteorologists worry there might not be enough spring rain.
Doug Kluck directs Midwest climate services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He says much of the region saw minor improvements, but many places have not changed since last year.
“The Northern Plains’ current conditions are pretty darn dry, they have been dry, they have been dry since fall in a lot of places and we have not had a lot of recovery.”
Weather officials say that April, May and June are the wettest months of the year.
USDA Midwest Climate Hub director Dennis Todey says he’s concerned that drought conditions will not improve before the summer.
“The peak chances for precipitation are coming very close. We don’t see that coming along. Eastern parts of the Dakotas and further east have more chances for precipitation as the year goes on…but droughts like this don’t shift overnight. We need multiple events.”
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports more than 90 percent of South Dakota is dry with extreme drought in most of the northwest.
The National Weather Service expects the state to see colder temperatures and less precipitation for the rest of the month.