West River drought conditions starting to raise concern

September was historically dry in South Dakota. Now, weather watchers are hoping for some precipitation before the ground freezes for the winter.

Once winter rolls around, the ground freezes and makes absorbing moisture nearly impossible. That’s how a drought can continue despite snow past your ankles.

In turn, with October being a historically wet month for the state, the state branch of the National Weather Service says these next few weeks will be important.

NWS warning coordination meteorologist Aaron Woodward explained the current situation.

“Overall, looking not too bad in central and eastern South Dakota, showing just abnormally dry conditions," Woodward said. "As you get further west, especially into the far southwest corner of South Dakota and the northwestern corner we are seeing pockets of D2 or severe drought, with smaller pockets of D3 or severe drought.”

While that means decent yields in East River crop fields, West River cattle ranches might struggle to water their animals.

“We are not in a multi-year long drought, but we’re starting to hint at it," Woodward said. "It’s been abnormally dry and we’re running a deficit across the area. We’re saying that’s a compounding issue where over multiple years we haven’t had enough rainfall to really hamper drought conditions to get the rivers where we want to be and lake levels where we want to be.”

That is what makes it so important to get water before the ground freezes, and that’s before mentioning fire conditions.

“With those strong winds, fire weather concerns become a strong issue out there with the dry grasses and dry fuels," Woodward said. "If they get buffed in by these strong winds, we’re prone to see this time of year with these first seasonal cold fronts, that definitely elevates the fire danger.”

Local drought information can be found here.