Drought conditions move into Lyman County.
Drought conditions move into Lyman County Governor activates State drought Task Force PIERRE, S.D.
Dennis Daugaard activated the state Drought Task Force Thurs., June 8 to monitor drought conditions across South Dakota.
“The recent hot, dry weather has increased drought conditions quickly in parts of South Dakota,” says Gov.
Much of central South Dakota, as well as portions of northeast South Dakota have only seen 25 percent to 50 percent of normal precipitation in the past 90 days.
After low to sometimes moderate fire danger during spring green-up, days of high fire danger are likely during dry and windy periods.
Lyman County Commission passed a burn ordinance in 2016 that prohibits any burning based when the National Weather Service declares a very high or extreme grassland fire danger or issues a red flag warning for strong winds.
Cattle may have to graze on spring wheat.
This is happening in mainly central and northern areas as well, where D2 drought conditions exist.
Cattle are now feeding on dry lots in many areas, instead of out on pastures, due to short grass.

With surface water, there are two different types of rights: riparian rights and appropriative rights.
Priority is not the most important thing in California law; reasonableness is.
“And though water rights priority is not the end all and be all, it is the foundation of the system we have.” The priority system serves two really important purposes that have to do with conditions that exist.
“As a matter of fact, Article 10 Section 2 that sets forward the reasonable use doctrine says, ‘Because of the conditions that exist in the state of California, because of the scarcity of water, we developed a system based on priority of right,’” he said.
So in order to be able to prudently plan and make the investments in infrastructure necessary to provide that public service, we have to have certainty in what our supply is going to be.” “What I believe that the proposed conservation framework does is it intentionally ignores the system of priority, which is what our water rights appropriation system is founded upon, and it tries to move us to something more closely related to the system that looks more closely to what we have on the east coast, which is that it’s a correlative right rather than a right based on priority.
And that would have impacted use.” “Of course there would be litigation over that, and that would be firmly grounded though in the reasonable use doctrine of determining that certain use in some places is unreasonable; you could do the same thing for certain agricultural crops in some places so there is that authority historically to determine reasonable use,” Mr. Garner said.
So those are two different things.
I think we do need to look at things as a whole and make sure the water is going where we want it to be going.
“That coupled with the fact that there is no way it’s ever going to change frankly because our takings laws and all sorts of other things are quite different than Australia’s means that this is the system that we have, whether we like it or not, and I don’t think we are going to move from it quickly.” Mr. Rose pointed out that in terms of the overlay of conservation or efficiency versus water rights, there is a different way of looking at it.
“In order to achieve real efficiency of water usage and conservation, you have to make a financial incentive for water agencies to do that.

Wind, rain bring some drought relief to Pierre, Fort Pierre; tornadoes in NE South Dakota.
No more rain fell in Pierre Tuesday after 5 p.m. A report of 1.64 inch of rain came in from southwest of Pierre.
There were two confirmed tornadoes in northeast South Dakota, with the highest wind speed of 92 mph reported near Clark, Wise said late Tuesday.
One near Groton and one in north Hand County.
At 8:20 p.m., two cabins were destroyed nine miles south of Rosholt, one by wind and one by a large tree that fell on it, according to the weather service… No injuries were reported in the state due to the storms, Wise said.
But fires near Milbank were blamed on downed power lines and trees fell on homes in several locations in northeast South Dakota.
No significant damage was reported in the Fort Pierre area, other than erosion caused by heavy rains.
In Pierre, city officials said the stormy weather did some damage, including downed branches and trees, wind damage to one of the shelters in the softball complex, a blown-down wall at a private building under construction, and water damage to the insulation and the building of a Fire Station 4, which is under construction.
Wednesday’s temperatures are expected to reach the lower 80s, with the remaining work-week expected to see upper 80s and the weekend temps in the mid-to-upper 70s.
“This initial rain in June will help, but it certainly doesn’t take us out of drought,” said Troy Kleffman of the weather service office in Aberdeen.

WR Mike Evans eager to help Buccaneers end playoff drought.
The fourth-year pro is Jameis Winston’s favorite target and has established himself as one of the NFL’s top receivers over the past three seasons.
Evans, who had a career-high 96 receptions for 1,321 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, said it won’t be that big of an adjustment.
I’ve been a leader since I’ve been here along with `V-Jax’ and then `V-Jax’ got hurt earlier in the season last year,” said Evans, who has topped 1,000 yards receiving in each of his three pro seasons.
”We’ve got a lot of capable guys, and it’s been fun with `D-Jax’ as well.
”He’s had a great offseason,” Monken said, adding that Evans is a ”very smart, very competitive” player who’s continues to improve.
I’m not talking about as people, just on the field – and that’s come so far,” Koetter added.
The goal is to win games.” In addition to signing DeSean Jackson, the Bucs drafted tight end O.J.
”In OTAs it’s hard to tell if there’s a bunch of improvement and things like that, but guys are playing with a lot more swagger and having a lot more fun out there,” Evans said.
This is my third year with him, and so there’s a good feel,” he added.

Recent rains brought some relief to areas of the state in severe drought, but not nearly enough.
More than a half inch of rain was recorded by noon Tuesday in most of these areas, including Sioux, Emmons, Grant, Morton and Burleigh counties.
That number moved to about 2.75 inches below average after the recent rain.
This follows .04 inches in 1901, .09 inches in 1934 and .12 inches in 1936.
The forecast shows a daily chance of showers through Friday.
There will be some localized thunderstorms that will be a "hit or miss" with some areas receiving heavier rain than their neighboring towns.
There will be some cool, seasonable temperatures Wednesday, with highs in the 70s and maybe 80s in the eastern part of the state, according to NWS meteorologist Alex Edwards.
Multiple power outages were reported in the eastern part of the state as a result of the storm Tuesday.
Last week, Morton County also banned fireworks.
The U.S. Drought Monitor places most of Morton County and a small portion of Burleigh County in severe drought.

Most of Florida is in a drought A spokeswoman for Gore said that he was citing the United States Drought Monitor, a weekly map published on Thursdays showing drought conditions.
The last time the drought monitor showed Florida’s area of drought was as high as 71 percent was February 2013.
During two weeks in April 2012, 99.96 percent of Florida was in a drought.
"Since the Florida wet season has returned with a vengeance over the past week, and is forecast to continue over the next few weeks, the amount of Florida in drought two to four weeks from now should be substantially less than what it is today."
Experts told us that Florida is prone to periodic droughts, but rising temperatures as a result of climate change can make droughts worse.
"There is an increasing temperature trend, and warmer temperatures lead to greater evapotranspiration rates, which can exacerbate these periods of drought," Zierden said.
While Gore’s numerical statement about the drought is correct, David Nolan, chair of the University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, cautioned against pointing to any particular weather event as proof of climate change.
Gore correctly cited the United States Drought Monitor which showed that 71.66 percent of Florida was experiencing a drought for the week ending May 30.
PolitiFact Florida The statement: "70 percent of Florida is in drought today."
The ruling: Gore correctly cited the United States Drought Monitor which showed that 71.66 percent of Florida was experiencing a drought for the week ending May 30.

Climate Change, Combating Desertification and Drought, Environment, Featured, Food & Agriculture, Headlines, Humanitarian Emergencies, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Middle East & North Africa, Population, Poverty & SDGs, Projects, TerraViva United Nations, Water & Sanitation This story is part of special IPS coverage of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, observed on June 17.
This quick conclusion does not come out of the blue–the MENA region, which is home to around 400 million people, is one of the world’s most impacted areas by drought and fast advancing desertification.
What Desertification Is All About?
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas.
“These people include many of the world‘s poorest, most marginalized and politically weak citizens.” The World Day to Combat Desertification is a unique moment to remind everyone that land degradation neutrality (LDN) is achievable through problem solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels,” according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
“Environmental degradation, political instability, food insecurity and poverty are causes of migration and development challenges.” In fact, the Bonn-based UNCCD secretariat timely reminds that in just 15 years, the number of international migrants worldwide has risen from 173 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2015.
By 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions.
Meanwhile, UNCCD reports that the demand for water is expected to increase by 50 per cent by the year 2050.
“Drought and water scarcity are considered to be the most far-reaching of all natural disasters, causing short and long-term economic and ecological losses as well as significant secondary and tertiary impacts.” Ten Times Less Available Fresh Water Per capita availability of fresh water in the region is now 10 times less than the world average, the United Nations has recently warned.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification Established in 1994, UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

Asia’s High Glaciers Protect Communities from Drought.
In some areas of the Himalayan region, for example, temperatures have risen faster than the global average.
This glacial loss has consequences for Asia as the glaciers provide an important ecosystem service to 800 million people by acting as a regional buffer against drought and providing summer meltwater to rivers and aquifers.
Droughts in the Himalayan region have already resulted in more than 6 million deaths over the past century.
Glacier loss would only add to drought-related water stress in the region, impacting a surrounding 136 million people.
It could result in social instability, conflict, and migrations of populations.” According to Pritchard’s research, the high mountains of Asia supply 23 cubic kilometers of water downstream every summer.
If the glaciers were to vanish, the amount of water during the summer would decrease by 38 percent in the upper Indus basin on average and up to 58 percent in drought conditions.
About 90 percent of Pakistan’s agriculture depends on the river and much of the world’s cotton comes from the Indus River Valley.
Some areas, such as the Aral Sea, rely exclusively on the glacier water during the drought months.
Twila Moon, a postdoctoral research associate at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado, recently discussed the consequences of global glacier volume loss on populations worldwide in Science magazine.

Some anti-drought programs face cuts.
But with the drought now broken by an unprecedented wet season and snow pack, it’s possible to look back and see the positives develop, especially when it comes to the state budget.
Many homeowners dealt with the stress of monitoring water usage in their homes to avoid fines and penalties, with the result that water was conserved.
It worked, mostly.
“But now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence and water conservation must be a part of our everyday life.” It’s also part of the 2017-18 state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Thursday is the constitutional deadline to send the budget to the governor’s desk.
The new fiscal year begins July 1 For example, money being allocated to the Department of Water Resources’ Save Our Water Campaign was cut from $2 million to $1 million in the May version of the budget and now the funding for the project may be eliminated from the budget completely.
In that moment, it seemed as if the people of California breathed a collective sigh of relief.
But what can Californians expect to see different?
“This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner,” Brown said.

As Southwest summer’s typically go, this one doesn’t seem to be starting off too typically, at least not compared to many of the recent early summer weather patterns.
Texas shows 1 percent of the state rated in drought, with five small areas scattered in Northeast and Central Texas showing only moderate drought.
The drought monitor rates a few areas across the state as abnormally dry, but the vast expanse of Texas remains white—drought free—on the drought monitor map.
Oklahoma is rated drought free in the latest drought monitor map available, with only a few small spots in the Southwest corner, South Central and the Southeast corner considered abnormally dry.
Three counties in southwest New Mexico are considered in moderate drought.
A small sliver of one county on the Texas State line in Southeast New Mexico is the only other spot considered abnormally dry.
Overall, the map shows only 6.5 percent of the state in moderate drought status.
New Mexico showed 36 percent rated in drought status at this time last year.
The Climate Prediction Center expects the El Niño Southern Oscillation to remain neutral through the rest of the year.
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