Drought in South Dakota, September 1 to 30, 2017

Name: Drought in South Dakota, September 1 to 30, 2017
Start: 2017-09-01T00:00
End: 2017-09-30T23:59
Location: South Dakota

September 1 to 30, 2017 · NWS ABR · 16 events in 16 counties and zones

Severe drought continued across most of central and north central South Dakota throughout much of September west of the James River Valley. There was some improvement towards the end of September.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 16 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 16

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS ABR wrote it up.

Severe drought continued across most of central and north central South Dakota throughout much of September west of the James River Valley. There was some improvement towards the end of September. Periodic episodes of precipitation across the region had prevented widespread worsening of the drought conditions. The severe drought had began across the region in early June. Several counties still had burn bans in place. Crops and pastureland continued to suffer from the the long term dryness. The spring and winter wheat production was at its lowest in years and more than 60 percent below long-term norms. Only 670,000 acres of spring wheat were harvested in the state this year, the lowest since the big drought year of 1936 when only 550,000 acres were harvested.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 11:28 PM CST, 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 11:28 PM CST, 32 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
1228 AM CDT Fri Sep 1 2017

.UPDATE...
Issued at 1225 AM CDT Fri Sep 1 2017

See updated aviation discussion below.

UPDATE Issued at 934 PM CDT Thu Aug 31 2017

Radar/satellite showing good shower/storm development into
northwest SD this evening. Will see how this holds together as it
moves east along with any new development. Current forecast POPs
look good.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Friday Afternoon)
Issued at 247 PM CDT Thu Aug 31 2017

High pressure to the east is enabling some stratus to advect
northwest into areas along and east of I-29. This stratus is likely
to stay in place until the advancing low pressure system and cold
front push it out on Friday.

Showers and isolated thunderstorms have begun to fire already west
of the James Valley on some shortwave energy and the southerly flow
ahead of the front. Interestingly, none of the CAMS show precip that
far east, but the GFS does. The NAMNest is starting to catch up with
the current radar trends, but keeps any showers out of the James
Valley until near midnight. The shortwave trough is leading the way
with the front trailing slowly behind and slated to reach central SD
Friday afternoon before stalling. If the timing and placement are
correct, this means winds will not be as strong over central SD
during peak heating time and fire concerns will be minimal. Showers
and isolated thunder will progress eastward through the day on
Friday.

.LONG TERM...(Friday Evening through Thursday)
Issued at 247 PM CDT Thu Aug 31 2017

An up then down temperature trend for the extended with mainly dry
conditions. There is still some uncertainty over temperature
expectations for Saturday with the GFS/ECMWF in different camps on
timing of a warm surge. GFS mixes us to around 700mb which would
yield highs in the low to mid 90s, while the ECMWF is slower with
the warm surge and thus low to mid 80s, which is closer to the
blended guidance. Trended temperatures Saturday up about 2-3 degrees
but not as warm as the GFS potential.

Sunday looks more confident with the warm air overhead, with 850mb
temperatures a standard deviation above climo. Blended guidance is
still quite a bit lower then the potential with mid/upper 80s and
low 90s. GFS mixes us to around 650mb, and using the mixed tool
to 700mb still yields to around the century mark. Added about 5
degrees to blended guidance.

A dry, cold frontal passage expected Sunday night early Monday with
a transition to a Canadian airmass. 850mb temperatures bottom out
around 2 standard deviations below climo for Wednesday morning.
Might see a few readings in the upper 30s under favorable
radiational conditions.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Friday Night)
Issued at 1225 AM CDT Fri Sep 1 2017

Scattered showers, along with some isolated thunderstorms, will
be moving across the region from the west overnight and Friday as
an upper level low pressure trough moves in. These will likely
affect the stations at or in the vicinity. Otherwise, expect
IFR/MVFR stratus to affect ATY and ABR tonight as low level RH
will be high. Expect these lower ceilings to remain in at ATY
through much of Friday.

&&

.ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SD...None.
MN...None.
&&

UPDATE...Mohr
SHORT TERM...Wise
LONG TERM...Connelly
AVIATION...Parkin

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 31, 9:01 PM CST, 2 hours 59 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
1001 PM CDT Thu Aug 31 2017

MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-020315-
Traverse-Big Stone-Corson-Campbell-McPherson-Brown-Marshall-
Roberts-Walworth-Edmunds-Day-Dewey-Potter-Faulk-Spink-Clark-
Codington-Grant-Hamlin-Deuel-Stanley-Sully-Hughes-Hyde-Hand-Jones-
Lyman-Buffalo-
1001 PM CDT Thu Aug 31 2017 /901 PM MDT Thu Aug 31 2017/

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of west central
Minnesota, central South Dakota, north central South Dakota, and
northeast South Dakota.

.DAY ONE...Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected tonight with no
severe weather expected.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected into Friday
afternoon with no severe weather expected.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation will not be needed.

Mohr

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

16 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Corson

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Corson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.709, -101.197 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Dewey

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Dewey forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.157, -100.872 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Stanley

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Stanley forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 44.412, -100.736 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Jones

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Jones forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 43.961, -100.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Lyman

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Lyman forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 43.896, -99.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Hughes

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hughes forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 44.389, -99.996 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Sully

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Sully forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 44.716, -100.132 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Potter

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Potter forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.065, -99.957 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Walworth

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Walworth forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.430, -100.032 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Campbell

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Campbell forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.771, -100.052 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, McPherson

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: McPherson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.766, -99.221 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Edmunds

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Edmunds forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.419, -99.215 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Faulk

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Faulk forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 45.071, -99.145 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Hyde

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hyde forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 44.547, -99.487 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Hand

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hand forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 44.548, -99.005 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Buffalo

When: September 1, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Buffalo forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 44.076, -99.205 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Dakota in 2017 Every state in 2017 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, September 2017

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 722915, 722916, 722917, 722918, 722919, 722920, 722921, 722922, 722923, 722924, 722925, 722926, 722927, 722928, 722930, 722931.