Hail, high winds, heavy rain, and severe thunderstorms may have brought damage to some areas of the state--but the storms are also helping parts of South Dakota recover from the drought.
Stan Boltz, with the Natural Resources Conservation Service says the drought outlook is faring better than it was at the start of this spring, but he says many areas have further to go.
Boltz says while recent rains have led to lush looking grassland west of the river large areas remain in drought despite the appearance on the surface.
He says some ranchers still have tough decisions to make on the numbers of livestock the land can sustain.
“Things are looking up but still not out of the woods yet for some of those folks and still need to look at livestock numbers and make sure they don’t damage the grasslands for next year,” says Boltz.
Boltz says the eastern third of the state is now at normal or above normal soil moisture.
You can find a link to the map showing the drought index here.
