October Rain Becoming Even More Important

With little or no rain in the forecast, the drought monitor remains virtually unchanged with the worst conditions still across the southeast.  With so much focus on the drought this year, the forecasts going forward are critical to many in KELOLAND.

The new outlook released this week from the climate predication center is not encouraging.  The prediction is for drought to either redevelop or persist across all of KELOLAND through the end of the year.  A previous outlook showed some slight improvement possible this fall, but is no longer included in this forecast.

I believe we really need to watch the pattern change that will take place in October.  You'll recall we've done previous stories about October weather before and the jet stream patterns that can cycle into the following year. 

Those jet stream cycles last fall were very dry.  Sioux Falls had only a third of normal rainfall . 

We still don't know what October will bring, so the next couple of weeks will be even more important to watch.  Keep in mind October doesn't paint the whole picture for following year, but it's one of the ingredients to watch for clues about next year.