National Weather Service Text Product Display

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS Aberdeen, SD
Versions: 1 2
000
AXUS73 KABR 181915
DGTABR
MNC011-155-SDC013-017-021-025-029-031-037-039-041-045-049-051-057-
059-065-069-075-085-089-091-107-109-115-117-119-129-190715-

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
215 PM CDT THU APR 18 2013 /115 PM MDT THU APR 18 2013/

...DROUGHT CONDITIONS SLOWLY IMPROVING FOR MANY AREAS...

SYNOPSIS...
MUCH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND A VERY ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN
HAVE PERSISTED FROM LATE MARCH THROUGH MID APRIL...WITH SEVERAL
ROUNDS OF RAIN AND SNOW. SIGNIFICANT SNOWSTORMS HAVE ALSO
OCCURRED...WITH SNOW COVER PERSISTING MUCH LONGER THAN NORMAL.
ONE PARTICULAR SNOWSTORM FROM APRIL 9TH - 11TH BROUGHT A SWATH OF
6 TO 12 INCHES ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA...WITH EXTREMELY HIGH
AMOUNTS OF 12 TO AROUND 25 INCHES OVER CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST SOUTH
DAKOTA. ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT SNOWSTORM OCCURRED JUST A FEW DAYS
LATER...FROM APRIL 13TH - 14TH. THIS SYSTEM BROUGHT A LARGE SWATH
OF 6 TO AS MUCH AS 16 INCHES OF SNOW MAINLY ACROSS NORTHERN SOUTH
DAKOTA. THE NORTHERN PLAINS HAS BEEN STUCK IN A COLD WEATHER
PATTERN AND APRIL WILL LIKELY END UP HAVING AVERAGE TEMPERATURES
AMONGST SOME OF THE COLDEST ON RECORD. MANY LOCATIONS EVEN
EXPERIENCED AVERAGE TEMPERATURES IN MARCH AMONGST THE TOP TEN
COLDEST ON RECORD. THE HIGH FREQUENCY OF MODERATE TO HEAVY
PRECIPITATION EVENTS OVER THE PAST MONTH HAVE LED TO IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE DROUGHT CONDITION ACROSS THE REGION.

THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR CLASSIFIES A PORTION OF CENTRAL SOUTH
DAKOTA IN EXTREME /D3/ DROUGHT. THIS INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF
LYMAN...JONES...STANLEY...DEWEY...AS WELL AS SOUTHERN CORSON. ONE
MONTH AGO...STANLEY...JONES...AND LYMAN COUNTIES WERE IN D4
DROUGHT SO THIS IS AN IMPROVEMENT OF ONE CATEGORY. SEVERE /D2/
DROUGHT CONDITIONS STRETCH FROM CORSON COUNTY...SOUTH THROUGH
POTTER...SULLY...AND HUGHES COUNTIES...THEN EVENTUALLY INTO
BUFFALO COUNTY. THIS IS ALSO A ONE CATEGORY IMPROVEMENT COMPARED
TO ONE MONTH AGO. MODERATE /D1/ AND ABNORMALLY DRY /D0/ DROUGHT
CONDITIONS COVER THE REST OF NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA INTO WEST
CENTRAL MINNESOTA. A ONE CATEGORY IMPROVEMENT WAS NOTED HERE AS
WELL.

SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS.
NO RECENT ACTIONS KNOWN AT THIS TIME.

SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS.
CALCULATED SOIL MOISTURE ANOMALIES SHOW GENERAL DEFICITS FROM
ABOUT 1.50 INCHES TO 2.50 INCHES ACROSS MOST OF CENTRAL AND
NORTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA. OVER SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...THESE
DEFICITS RANGE FROM ABOUT 2.50 INCHES TO 3.15 INCHES. TOPSOIL
MOISTURE WAS RATED AT 17 PERCENT VERY SHORT...27 PERCENT
SHORT...52 PERCENT ADEQUATE...AND 4 PERCENT SURPLUS. SUBSOIL
MOISTURE WAS RATED AT 39 PERCENT VERY SHORT...44 PERCENT
SHORT...16 PERCENT ADEQUATE...AND 1 PERCENT SURPLUS.

AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS.
ACCORDING TO THE LATEST USDA CROPS REPORT FOR THE STATE OF SOUTH
DAKOTA ISSUED APRIL 15TH...WINTER WHEAT CONDITION WAS RATED AT 30
PERCENT VERY POOR...43 PERCENT POOR...22 PERCENT FAIR...AND 5
PERCENT GOOD. SIX PERCENT OF SPRING WHEAT HAS BEEN
SEEDED...COMPARED TO 79 PERCENT LAST YEAR AND 26 PERCENT AVERAGE.
OATS SEEDING RATED 16 PERCENT COMPLETE...BEHIND 76 PERCENT LAST
YEAR AND 24 PERCENT AVERAGE. ONLY 1 PERCENT OF BARLEY HAS BEEN
SEEDED...BEHIND 55 PERCENT LAST YEAR AND 16 PERCENT AVERAGE. STOCK
WATER SUPPLIES WERE 23 PERCENT VERY SHORT...35 PERCENT SHORT...39
PERCENT ADEQUATE...AND 3 PERCENT SURPLUS.

RIVER AND STREAM FLOW CONDITIONS.
MANY RIVERS AND STREAMS ARE STILL PARTIALLY FROZEN.

FIRE DANGER IMPACTS.
IN GENERAL...FIRE DANGER HAS BEEN LOW ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA DUE
TO THE RECENT COLD WEATHER AND SNOW COVER.

CURRENT WATER RESTRICTIONS.
NONE KNOWN AT THIS TIME.

CLIMATE SUMMARY...
PRECIPITATION TOTALS THUS FAR IN APRIL ARE RUNNING ABOVE
NORMAL...AND IN FACT MUCH ABOVE NORMAL FOR SOME AREAS. FROM
NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA THROUGH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA PRECIPITATION
TOTALS ARE MAINLY 1 TO 2 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. FOR NORTH CENTRAL
AND EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...THE NUMBERS ARE LESS...BUT STILL
ABOVE NORMAL. TOTALS GENERALLY RANGE FROM ONE-HALF TO 1 INCH ABOVE
NORMAL. AVERAGE TEMPERATURES THUS FAR IN APRIL ARE RUNNING AROUND
10 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. VERY COLD TEMPERATURES HAVE PERSISTED
WELL INTO APRIL AND MOST AREAS ARE AMONGST THEIR COLDEST AVERAGE
TEMPERATURES FOR APRIL.

PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...
THE CURRENT ONE MONTH OUTLOOK FROM THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER
VALID FOR THE MONTH OF MAY CALLS FOR EQUAL CHANCES FOR ABOVE OR
BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THE ONE MONTH PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK
ALSO CALLS FOR EQUAL CHANCES FOR ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL. THE
CURRENT THREE MONTH TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK SHOWS SLIGHT PROBABILITIES
FOR ABOVE NORMAL ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF SOUTH DAKOTA. THE
THREE MONTH PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK SHOWS EQUAL CHANCES FOR ABOVE OR
BELOW NORMAL.

HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
THE LATEST PROBABILISTIC HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK SHOWS 60 TO 80 PERCENT
CHANCES FOR MINOR FLOODING ALONG THE JAMES RIVER AT COLUMBIA AND
STRATFORD. THE BIG SIOUX RIVER FROM WATERTOWN TO CASTLEWOOD SHOWS
ABOUT 30 TO 45 PERCENT CHANCES.

NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...
THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED AROUND MAY 18TH OR SOONER IF
NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS.

&&

RELATED WEB SITES...
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND
AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/...

U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM/MONITOR.HTML
NOAA DROUGHT PAGE...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.NOAA.GOV
HIGH PLAINS REGIONAL CLIMATE CENTER...HTTP://WWW.HPRCC.UNL.EDU
NWS RIVER INFORMATION...HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/AHPS
USGS...HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV
LOCAL WEATHER INFORMATION...HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/ABERDEEN
USDA CROP INFORMATION...HTTP://WWW.NASS.USDA.GOV/INDEX.ASP
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE CLIMATE OFFICE...HTTP://CLIMATE.SDSTATE.EDU
SDSU EXTENSION...HTTP://IGROW.ORG/AGRONOMY/DROUGHT
SOUTH DAKOTA DROUGHT IMPACT REPORTER...HTTPS://IGROW.CROWDMAP.COM
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER /CPC/...HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...
THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER...
THE USDA...STATE AND REGIONAL CENTER CLIMATOLOGISTS AND THE
NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION CENTER. INFORMATION FOR THIS
STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS AND FAA OBSERVATION SITES...
STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES...THE USDA...USACE AND USGS.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT
INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT...

TRAVIS TARVER - DROUGHT FOCAL POINT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
824 BROWN COUNTY 14 SOUTH
ABERDEEN SD 57401
PHONE...605-225-0519
TRAVIS.TARVER@NOAA.GOV

$$
TMT
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office
