The area of South Dakota ranked “abnormally dry” shrank the past week, according to the federal “Drought Monitor” mapping, but the small area rated as in actual drought – moderate and severe drought – stayed exactly the same, at 12.96 percent; The last time that some form of drought affected such a small area of the state as now — pegged at 12.96 percent — was May 23, 2017, when only 6.79 percent of the state’s area had moderate drought or worse, Richard Heim told the Capital Journal on Thursday.
He’s the author of the National Drought Monitor report, with maps, released Thursday, using data effective as of Tuesday, June 26.
Heim, with more than three decades experience with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal government’s agency that monitors climate and the environment, is based in North Carolina.
Heim explained how the area of the state pegged as experiencing some form of formal, federally-defined drought remained exactly the same this week as last, down to the second decimal place: 12.96 percent of the state’s area.
It amounts to 10,124 square miles — of the state’s total of 78,116 square miles — all gathered in one contiguous area of the prairie-pothole region in the northeast corner of the state.
It’s mostly moderate drought, except for a splotch of severe drought sort of around the drake’s eye, about 3,000 square miles roughly from northeast of Aberdeen down to Redfield that’s in severe drought.. That blob of severe drought is about 60 miles across, just under 3,000 square miles, comprising southern Brown and northern Spink counties.
Since the data didn’t show any change to speak of from the June 21 map based on June 19 conditions, the area showing drought was left at 12.96 percent, Heim said.
That includes 9.16 percent of the state’s area in moderate drought, surrounding the 3.8 percent of land in severe drought.
One year ago, 56.9 percent of South Dakota’s acres were in some form of drought, including 2.09 percent in extreme drought and 29.26 percent in severe drought; 90.68 percent of the state was abnormally dry or in drought as of June 27, 2017.
This week, 64.91 percent of the state is free of abnormally dry or drought conditions, according to Heim’s drought monitor map; 22.13 percent of the state is experiencing abnormally dry conditions short of drought.

SALT LAKE CITY — What do you get when you mix a bunch of severe drought with above-average temperatures and throw in eight active wildfires burning in one state?
"As everybody knows we have had a significant drought," said Utah Gov.
We want to call on the people of Utah to be careful, to be wise in what they do in their activities."
Those extremely dry conditions make the state ripe for more wildfires, the governor said, and it will likely get worse with the fireworks season looming.
“Be careful when you enjoy your summer vacations.
Fireworks are already banned on state-owned lands and in the unincorporated area of Salt Lake County, Herbert said.
The nexus between fireworks and wildfires is critical because as it stands, the majority of Utah’s wildfires are human caused.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management instituted new fire restrictions in northeastern Utah due to hazardous conditions.
"With the fireworks, with local and state fire ordinances, they are there for a reason, especially as dry as we are.
"For a variety of reasons, the monsoon (season) looks to be a bit delayed as we go into July," he said.

Grass and crops continue to grow in southeast KELOLAND, that is, as long as they’re not under water due to the recent flooding.
But it’s a different story just north of Huron.
We took a look at the percent of average for rain over the past 30 days.
As we looked into Brown, Spink, Day and Clark Counties it shows how far of a deficit there is.
It’s as low as 54 percent between Aberdeen and Watertown.
Some would even argue it’s more than that as I’ve heard reports of just an inch of rain since the snow left in April.
While the drought monitor has improved in western South Dakota, it’s alive and well in northeast KELOLAND with severe drought for the southern half of Brown County and northern half of Spink County.
With the higher humidity in place, you would think there would be better chances for rain.
Unfortunately, those dry grounds help dry out any rains that try to move through.
The best chance for rain in this situation is at night and the early morning hours.

The months of May and June both experienced drier than normal conditions, especially in the northern half of Western New York.
The recent dry spell is now considered significant enough for parts of our area to be labeled as "abnormally dry" by the National Drought Mitigation Center.
This is despite scattered showers this past Wednesday and Thursday.
That designation means that soil moisture is below normal given the time of year and location.
In fact, parts of Niagara County have measured barely half of normal rainfall over the past 60 days.
Fortunately, significant agricultural and economical impacts are not yet being felt.
That is an important factor when assessing the intensity of a drought in any given region.
If this dry stretch continues, parts of the area may be elevated to a "moderate drought".
This is the first time since March 14, 2017 that WNY has been highlighted on the weekly drought monitor.
That last occurrence was at the tail end of a drought that began in May of 2016 and worsened during the summer.

Arizona is renewing a focus on a drought contingency plan for the shrinking supply of Colorado River water, and other Western states are paying close attention.
An Arizona utility was accused earlier this year of manipulating the system that governs water allocations.
The Central Arizona Project has since pledged to be more cooperative with other river users, more respectful and more transparent.
The agency has been prodding Colorado River states to wrap up drought contingency plans by the end of the year, one each in the lower and upper basins.
The amount of water that gets sent to the lower basin states — Arizona, Nevada and California — and Mexico depends on Lake Mead, the reservoir formed by Hoover Dam.
Shortages would be triggered if the man-made reservoir on the Arizona-Nevada border dips to 1,075 feet (328 meters) above sea level.
Mexico wouldn’t conserve more water if the lower basin states don’t finalize a plan, said Chris Harris, executive director of the Colorado River Board of California.
"That creates this real uncertainty," said John Fleck, director of the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program.
Harris said California agencies are still working out the details but said Burman’s participation in the Arizona meeting is a step in the right direction.
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PHOENIX — Even if Arizona sees an exceptionally heavy monsoon season this summer, that will not end the long-term drought in the state, one expert said.
Randy Cerveny, a climatologist with Arizona State University, said the state is coming off one of its driest winters in years and that it would take several big winters in a row — along with strong monsoon seasons — to end the drought.
“We’ve been in a drought really since the start of this century,” he told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
“It’s been a really dry period, particularly in terms of the winters.” Cerveny said the southwest has seen several “mega droughts” in the past that lasted more than a century and there is no guarantee that the state is not in another one right now.
“Most scientists are agreeing that the drought started right around the turn of the century, maybe a couple years earlier,” he added.
But that does not mean that there’s not good news for residents: Satellite images have shown that storms forming in Mexico are slowly inching their way north.
“The thing to be watching for in regard to monsoon is what’s going down in Mexico,” Cerveny said.
“If you notice from the satellite photos…you’ll start to see that there are more big thunderstorms that are starting to build up down in Mexico and everyday they are starting to inch up a little bit closer,” he added.
“That’s a sign that the monsoonal moisture is getting a little bit closer and eventually will get up here.” And for those who are anxiously awaiting the first big monsoon storm of the season, no worries: Cerveny said the state will start to see more monsoons over the next couple of weeks.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

FARMINGTON — The city of Aztec released a notice today asking residents to voluntarily conserve water.
The voluntary conservation is stage 1 of the city’s Water Conservation and Drought Plan, which was amended earlier this year.
The city is asking for people to water lawns, gardens, trees or shrubs between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. or between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
It is also asking people who have even-numbered addresses to only water on even-numbered days and people who have odd-numbered addresses to only water on odd-numbered days.
Stage 1 conditions will be in place until further notice, and the city could choose to implement mandatory restrictions if drought conditions do not improve.
A stream gauge in the Animas River near Cedar Hill registered a flow of 209 cubic feet per second today, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
That is down from 270 cubic feet per second on Monday.
A gauge in the Animas River downstream from Aztec registered 74.3 cubic feet per second today, and in Farmington the river was flowing at 67 cubic feet per second.
Information about Aztec’s Water Conservation and Drought Plan can be found at aztecnm.gov.

According to drought.gov, abnormal dryness or drought are currently affecting approximately 17,922,000 people in Texas, which is about 71 percent of the state’s population.
Drought is described as one of the most common and costly types of natural disasters in the U.S. From 1980–2014, drought has cost the country an average of $9.4 billion a year and has contributed to about 3,000 deaths in total.
According to the local lake level report from the City of San Angelo, Lake Nasworthy is 81 percent full, Twin Buttes Reservoir is 11 percent full, O.C.
Currently the City of San Angelo is in standard conservation, which restricts outside watering to no more than twice every seven days and no more than one inch per week.
The city’s water conservation plan changes water restrictions based upon how much supply is available.
San Angelo will move into drought level one when there is less than 24 months of supply remaining.
If the city reaches drought level three with only a 12 month supply of water remaining, outside watering will be prohibited.
West Texas and the Concho Valley are on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert which is in a perpetual state of drought with sporatic periods of abundant rainfall.
One of the problems in the desert is evaporation.
The truth is that almost as much water evaporates from local reservoirs as is used by water rights holders.

Since the devastating 2012 drought, farmers spent the past five seasons rebuilding their herds and getting back to a sustainable level.
But with the dry months of summer now setting in, many Missouri cattle farmers are struggling to find hay and feed for their animals.
Unfortunately, after an abnormally dry spring, most of northern Missouri is now suffering drought conditions.
To make up for this loss, farmers would typically feed animals baled hay to supplement pasture grazing.
In most years, northern Missouri farmers feed hay to their cattle until the end of March or first of April.
In addition to lack of forage, drinking water itself has been getting harder for many to find and access.
Without rain to restore them to normal levels, these animals may be left with nothing to drink.
With all of these factors at play at the same time, Missouri farmers are experiencing a bit of a perfect storm.
This storm has left many with only a few options.
They could buy feed for their cattle, also at abnormally high cost to the farmer.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The upcoming Monsoon in the nation’s Southwest is expected to be wetter than normal, but meteorologists said Monday that even an exceptionally damp season is unlikely to lift the region’s annual rainfall to average levels.
The U.S. Drought Monitor says moderate to extreme drought also persists in parts of Oklahoma and Texas.
Winter snowmelt and spring rains generally replenish water supplies, but precipitation through May has been insufficient to improve the region’s drought conditions, said Becky Bolinger, Colorado’s assistant state climatologist.
“By the time we got to January we were starting to see the results of a snow drought,” Bolinger said.
“It has been increasing since then.” Brian Klimowski, a National Weather Service Meteorologist in Flagstaff, said the Monsoon — a seasonal change in weather patterns — typically provides a significant percentage of rainfall in the region in July, August and September.
Up to 50 percent of annual rainfall in New Mexico occurs during the Monsoon.
Small rain events aren’t making a dent in this drought.” Bolinger said warmer-than-normal temperatures and sporadic rainfall has exacerbated wildfire conditions in the region.
Fire restrictions are in place in many southwestern states as the Fourth of July holiday approaches, and wildfire risks have closed some national forests to visitors.
“We’ve been having a lot of fires,” Bolinger said.
The current wildfire has been more active than most due to drought conditions, Bolinger said, noting that the vast majority of wildfires are caused by people rather than lightning or other natural causes.