(Continued from page 5)

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• These stations have 100-plus years of observations. Thus, the Dust Bowl dominates summer temperature records.
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• Temperature records
• Menno             77.1     79.4 (1936) 3rd
• Belle Fourche  76.3     74.4 (2006)
• Milesville         75.6     76.3 (2006) 4th
• Sioux Falls      75.2     77.1 (1936) 3rd
• Martin             74.9     73.9 (2006)
• Oelrichs           74.4     77.6 (1936) 5th
• Ft. Meade (Sturgis) 74.1 75.3 (1988) 5th
• Lemmon          72.8     75.7 (1936) 5th
• Newell             72.5     74.9 (1936) 5th
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• "The agricultural impacts for the summer are huge," Todey said. "From corn yield losses and pasture and range areas. Given the numbers listed above it is obvious as to why yields were impacted so severely this year."
• When reviewing the data, Todey says it is interesting to see that many precipitation records are not from some of the typical drought years.
• "When we think of more recent drought years, we typically think of 1976, 1988 and 2006. These years appear in some records. But several others such as 1931 and 1970 hold previous precipitation records," he said. "The temperature record standard is still 1936, holding most of the summer records in South Dakota."
• SDSU Extension will provide weekly drought briefings throughout the 2012 growing season. To keep up to date on how the drought is impacting South Dakota's agriculture industry, visit iGrow.org.
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