U.S. Army Corps officials say South Dakota continues to see drought conditions.
Kevin Grode oversees reservoir regulation with the Army Corps. He says the Missouri River basin has not had much precipitation this winter.
“The soil moisture conditions are very dry in the majority of the upper basin and particularly dry in the western portion of the upper basin.”
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that all of South Dakota has some form of drought. The southwest and southeastern portions of the state are under extreme drought.
Climatologist Doug Kluck says one reason is from a weather pattern called La Niña.
“This, by the way, is a classic La Niña map or signal, where above normal precipitation final takes place in the upper basin and below normal precipitation indications for the central plains. In other words, the southern parts and western parts of the basin could dry out or continue to dry out quite a bit going into the spring.”
Kluck predicts slightly warmer temperatures through April. But first he says the rest of February will have below normal temperatures. Weather officials say much of central and western South Dakota may see above average precipitation.