MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — A wild weather week full of threatening pop-up storms and extreme winds ended in a draw.
Mitchell and the surrounding area got enough rain so that the extreme drought did not worsen, but unfortunately for farmers it did not improve either. The southern quarter of Davison County and about 37% of Hanson County are still in extreme drought, which is the second-to-worst stage on a four-part scale. The rest of the counties are in severe drought, along with all of McCook County.
Extreme drought is affecting from Mitchell all the way to the state’s southern border, spraying west across Charles Mix County to the other side of the Missouri River. For the region, all points west, north, east, and southeast of Mitchell are in severe drought.
As far as South Dakota goes, things got marginally worse, mostly in the north-central part of the state, where things have become abnormally dry over the past seven days.
The upcoming forecast provides a glimmer of hope. Temperatures are expected to remain at or below average through the rest of June. On Saturday, potentially soaking rains are expected across much of Nebraska. There is still some hope those could get pulled north into the lower end of South Dakota. Rain is also possible overnight into Friday morning.