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Todey: Most of SD got adequate spring moisture
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FarkVERMILLION -- With a few exceptions, most of the state got adequate moisture this spring, according to Dennis Todey, South Dakota's state climatologist.
Enough rain fell in South Dakota's eastern counties to end drought conditions, he said.
"This rainfall has been a real boost in the central third of the state, and up in the northwest corner of the state, where we were the worst-hit areas last year, where we have really improved things a great deal," he said. "The only place that has kind of missed out on things has been the southwestern corner of the state."
Storms in early May included some tornadoes and heavy rain. Brown County and Aberdeen were especially hard hit by flooding after getting nearly 8 inches of rain. Almost 3 inches fell during one hour the evening of May 5 in Aberdeen.
The state's third-largest city has had 20.8 inches of moisture since Jan. 1, already more than it usually gets in a full year and the most moisture through the first two weeks of June since 1896.
Fall River, Custer, Shannon and Pennington counties could use more rain for range and pasture and to refill stock dams and reservoirs as summer officially begins Thursday, Todey said.
Even with a somewhat rainy spring, some areas of the west still could use more moisture, he added.
It's difficult to predict the state's weather for the summer, he said.
But South Dakota could be slightly warmer if a La Nina weather pattern forms in the Pacific Ocean, according to the climatologist.
"If we were to get into a La Nina, our risk of being warmer and drier would increase. Right now, we're kind of heading that direction, but we're still not there," Todey said. "So it's not looking very likely we'll get into La Nina by the end of the summer."
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