Current Impacts
To see or report current drought impacts, please visit the Drought Impacts Toolkit, where you can find impacts from media in the Drought Impact Reporter and from citizen scientists and other volunteer observers under Condition Monitoring Observations.
Historic Impacts
No two states have the same experience during a drought. Below are examples of some of the impacts experienced in South Dakota in the past. The process for developing this example impact table is described in Noel, M., Bathke, D., Fuchs, B., Gutzmer, D., Haigh, T., Hayes, M., Poděbradská, M., Shield, C., Smith, K. and Svoboda, M., 2020. Linking drought impacts to drought severity at the state level. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(8), pp.E1312-E1321. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0067.1. To view a more complete record, and to filter impacts by drought severity, sector and season, check out the interactive State Impacts Tool.
| Category | Examples of historically observed impacts |
|---|
| D0 | Grain and pasture growth is stunted |
| D1 | Pasture and water supplies decline; cattle industry is under stress |
| Topsoil is dry; grain crop yields decline |
| D2 | Fire season is extended; fire season is early; grass fires are common |
| Hay is short; cattle sales are early |
| Planting begins early; irrigation use increases |
| Water quality for agriculture operations is low; stock ponds are low |
| D3 | Burn bans begin |
| Deer and pheasant populations are low |
| Producers haul water for cattle and provide supplemental feeding; cattle sales increase |
| River flow in major rivers is low; small surface water bodies are dry |
| Row crop loss is significant |
| D4 | Epizootic hemorrhagic disease spreads; wildlife populations decline; recreational fishing and hunting are affected |
| Extremely low flow and river debris impair navigation of major rivers; commercial barge traffic slows; water use restrictions are implemented |
| Row crop loss is significant; producers are selling livestock herds, market prices fall |