Text Products for DGT Issued by UNR

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS Rapid City, SD
Versions: 1
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AXUS73 KUNR 261346
DGTUNR

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
745 AM MDT Thu Aug 26 2021

...DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA...

.SYNOPSIS:

.Drought Intensity and Extent: According to the August 26 release of
the U.S. Drought Monitor, Extreme (D3) Drought covered most of
Campbell, Crook, and northwestern Weston Counties in Wyoming. In
South Dakota, an area of Extreme (D3) Drought was located across
northeastern Jackson and southeastern Haakon Counties as well as
most of Harding and northwestern Butte Counties. Severe (D2) Drought
covered the rest of Campbell, Crook, and Weston Counties in
northeastern Wyoming and in South Dakota, Harding, Perkins, Butte,
and northern and eastern Meade, far northeastern Pennington,
Ziebach, Haakon, Jackson, Mellette, and northern Tripp Counties.
Moderate (D1) Drought covered southwestern Meade, Lawrence, central
and eastern Pennington, southern and eastern Fall River, eastern
Custer, Oglala Lakota, Bennett, far southwestern Jackson, Todd, and
southern Tripp Counties. Areas of Abnormally Dry or D0 conditions
were located over western Pennington, western Custer, and
northwestern Fall River Counties.

.Precipitation: Precipitation so far this summer and for most of
2021 has been below average. Most areas are seeing rainfall deficits
of several inches.

.Hydrologic Condition: When compared with climatology, stream flows
are below normal for this time of the year. Most of the larger
reservoirs are around average for storage capacity.

.SUMMARY OF IMPACTS:

.Agricultural Impacts: On August 23, the Department of Agricultural
rated topsoil moisture 89% short to very short and rangeland and
pastures were rated 43% very poor and 38% poor across the area.

.Hydrologic Impacts: Numerous stock ponds and dugouts remain dry
or contain water of poor quality.

.Fire Hazards: Fire potential is very high.

.DROUGHT MITIGATION ACTIONS: Rapid City`s annual mandatory water
conservation measure continues through August 31, while Gillette`s
water waste ordinance continues through October 1.

.LOCAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK: For the beginning of September, there will
be chances for showers and storms, but widespread significant
rainfall is not expected. Temperatures overall will remain above
average. The outlook for this autumn is for a greater chance of
above average temperatures and a greater chance of below average
precipitation. Because of this, we have high confidence of the
current drought conditions persisting through the fall.

.NEXT ISSUANCE DATE: This product will be updated in September.

&&

.RELATED WEB SITES:

Additional information on current drought conditions may be found at
the following web addresses:

U.S. Drought Monitor: https://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
U.S. Drought Portal: https://drought.gov/
WY Drought Information and Resources: https://drought.wyo.gov
Climate Prediction Center (CPC): https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
High Plains Regional Climate Center: https://hprcc.unl.edu/
South Dakota Climate and Water: https://climate.sdstate.edu/ W
Wyoming Water Resources Data System & State Climate Office:
http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/

Additional water and river information:

NWS: https://water.weather.gov/
OWP: https://water.noaa.gov/
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): https://water.usgs.gov/
Bureau of Reclamation Great Plains Region: https://www.usbr.gov/gp/

.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a multi-agency effort involving NOAA`s
National Weather Service and National Centers for Environmental
Information, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), state and
regional climatologists, and the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Information for this statement was gathered from NWS and Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) observation sites, state cooperative
extension services, USACE and USGS.

.CONTACT INFORMATION:

Should you have any questions or comments about this drought
statement, please contact:

Melissa Smith
Service Hydrologist
melissa.smith@noaa.gov

or

Matthew Bunkers
Science and Operations Officer
matthew.bunkers@noaa.gov

National Weather Service
300 East Signal Drive
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701
605-341-9271

$$
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office
