UNDATED, (KELO-AM) State Climatologist Laura Edwards says about 82 percent of South Dakota is now suffering from drought conditions.
"This is the worst drought since 2002 or 2006, so its been awhile since we've seen a drought of this magnitude," says Edwards.
Edwards takes part in the monthly national climate summary conference call. She says the drought has spread quickly across the region.
The new thirty day outlooks indicates above normal temperatures, and below normal precipitation across the region, including North Dakota and Montana, through August.
U.S. Senator John Thune is calling on USDA to open all CRP acres to emergency haying ASAP, as one way to help farmers and ranchers deal with the drought.
(Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton, contributed to this report)