Taking a look at recent dry spells

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — One of the over-arching headlines across KELOLAND has been one that is hard to ignore: The lack of rain. While it’s been great for harvesting efforts, it has also been the proverbial thorn in our sides with near-daily elevated fire weather concerns and red flag warnings.

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West River has been hit harder as of late, though both sides have seen an increase in drought conditions. Southwestern and northwestern KELOLAND have been in the grip of severe to extreme drought in some capacity since the first half of July. The extreme rain from June was what kept East River concerns in check until the last six weeks. Now we’re seeing moderate drought spread into the southeast.

Our recent dry spell hasn’t helped. Including Tuesday, it’s been 15 days since Sioux Falls and Aberdeen have seen measurable rain. Pierre has just reached the two-week mark, while Rapid City has now gone three weeks without rain. September’s overall dry pattern has not helped October at all.

Believe it or not, we’ve had longer dry spells as recently as last year. Sioux Falls went 27 days without rain at one point last fall, with November recording just one-hundredth of an inch of rain. 2011 saw a thirty day stretch between November 3rd and December 2nd with nothing measurable being observed.

Unfortunately, I don’t see much help anytime soon in that regard. Our dry spell will likely continue through the end of the week and go into next week as well.