Recent rains drive out drought

It has gone mostly unnoticed, but a good portion of South Dakota had been faced with drought conditions during the past month according to the U.S. National Drought Monitor.

Luckily, recent rains during the past couple of weeks have nearly driven the recent drought completely out of South Dakota.

On May 27th, nearly 10% of the state (in the extreme southeast) was considered to be in a D-1 drought.

Drought Monitor May 27

But timely precipitation has now blessed the state following a majority of planting activity, recharging soil profiles, helping this year’s crop get off to a great start.

Coincidently, the areas that needed rain most are the ones that received the highest amounts as seen in the chart below.

National Weather Service Data 5/29-6/12

The latest drought monitor update released this morning now shows less than 1% of the state’s land is now in a drought.

Drought Monitor June 10

As the rains have come and the temperatures have started to improve, so has the state’s corn crop condition. As of Sunday, June 8^th, the state’s corn crop was rated as 8% excellent, 80% good, 10% fair and 2% poor.

Yes, the recent storms did bring some hail and there may be pothole or two now in some fields, but as a wise farmer once said, “Never curse the rain.”