Shots of rain to the region have helped stop recent fire danger in its tracks – but currently, there isn’t any expected long term relief from drought conditions.
Todd Hamilton is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck. He says back to back upper level systems that stalled over North Dakota – dropping as much as five to six inches in localized areas last week, and bringing additional one to two inch rains this week – have delivered a much needed advantage to the state.
He says aside from a few localized areas of minor flooding, farmers and ranchers in North Dakota will benefit from the moisture. He says there had been concerns over grasses available in pastures, as well as soil moisture being adequate enough to germinate crops. But, longer range models are still indicating a drier outlook for the summer.
"It's definitely a good thing to have this, but I don't think the long range outlooks from earlier in the spring have changed at all. So that would still be valid as we get into the summer period. And, typically in North Dakota after the May-June time frame, and you get into July, certainly that second half of July, that really starts going toward a drier period climatologically as well."
The latest information from the US Drought Monitor shows all of western North Dakota in at least moderate drought, with severe and extreme drought conditions surrounding the central portion of western North Dakota.