SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — After a very dry summer, the record snowfall did help the drought conditions a little bit.

Once the snow melted, most of the moisture got absorbed by the ground due to the dry conditions, but much of KELOLAND is still dry.

Now southern KELOLAND is dealing with Red Flag Warnings and western South Dakota is in extreme fire danger. A Red Flag Warning is issued when fire forecasters have high confidence that a day will meet certain criteria.

That includes: sustained winds averaging of 15 MPH or more, relative humidity of 25% or less, and temperatures over 75 degrees.
The best time to see those conditions is when an area has been dry for a week or two, before the spring green-up or after fall color. In some cases there is even a fire weather watch that can be posted before getting upgraded to a red flag warning.

We are watching the end of this week to bring in more moisture in the form of rain after so much snow this winter.