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While some parts of KELOLAND were hit by storms over the weekend, it has been about a week since the last significant rainfall in the Sioux Falls area.
Mitch Jackson spends about 45 minutes outside every other day, but he is not working on his tan.
"The lawn is so brown," Mitch Jackson said.
His lawn is not the only one in the Sioux Falls area that is dry and cracked. We are not in a drought yet, but so far this month we have had two inches less rain than we usually do. With the city's watering ban in effect from noon to five, Jackson was out early, trying to keep up.
"With the brown spots as bad as they are, maybe today was a good start. With all that wind we've had, it really dries everything out at the surface," Jackson said.
Brown lawns eat up a lot of green. Jackson has noticed a hike in his water bill. However, Mother Nature is not on everyone's bad side.
"Our crop got in on time; it's developing really well. The bench mark used to be knee-high by the 4th of July. We've got corn that's over knee high now," South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Walt Bones said.
Though Bones said we could use more rain, many farmers are not hurting. According to Bones, crops use a tenth of an inch of rain every day. Even though it is not falling from the sky, crops are not as thirsty as you'd think.
"Your lawns, the grass doesn't go very deep. Roots don't go very deep. We've got crops, the roots go very deep. We've got crops, the roots go down six to eight feet to get moisture," Bones said.
It might be hot, but Jackson isn't going to sweat it. When it comes to his lawn, he is going with the flow.
"It's going to be one of those summers when it's going to be a lot of time in the yard just to get it to grow," Jackson said.
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