While summer does not arrive for another three weeks, what weather experts call "meteorological summer" is under way. That's basically a way for climate watchers to split the year into equal seasons. The state climatologist says the state has a chance to dry out over the next few weeks.
Much of the state has gotten more than enough rain over the past several weeks—that extra precipitation has led to flooding in the southeast part of South Dakota. State Climatologist Dennis Todey says the first weeks of June could bring a cooling trend.
“Really," Todey explains, "more so in the eastern part of the state than the west. Looks like we’re gonna stay dry overall, because we’re gonna get more of a northerly flow. The western part of the state may be a little warmer, as we get a ridge of high pressure off to our west. As we get along to the later part of June, it does look like the pattern does become a bit more active, so there will be some precipitation at that point.”
Todey says more wet weather at month’s end is good for some parts of the state—but not so much in other areas.
He says, “We have southeastern South Dakota that’s still quite wet from the winter and spring and early summer rains. And other parts of the state are not so bad, we do have some spots in the northeast and around the Black Hills especially that are drying out pretty quickly.”
According to Todey, sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are still pointing toward a La Nina later this year. He says that could lead toward a drier fall and somewhat colder temperatures over the winter. Todey says it’s too soon to tell whether a La Nina may result in more snow in the state.