Climate change in South Dakota

Climate change in South Dakota will directly impact agriculture, city planning and development as well as the tourism industry.

In the coming decades, summers are likely to become increasingly hot, which may amplify some risks to human health and decrease yields of some crops while lengthening the growing season for others".

Effects of the flood episode included: delayed crop plantings, spread of noxious weeds, litter and debris scattered along river banks, damage to roads and bridges and a decline in canoeing and kayaking due to strong current.

The resulting increase in river flows could benefit recreational boating, public water supplies, and electric power generation.

Higher water flows also increase hydropower production, which accounts for almost 40 percent of the energy produced in South Dakota.

[2]A South Dakota board is mulling increased water pumping rights on the James River, which since the late 1990s has seen close to a 300 percent higher annual flow.

“Climate is the likely dominant force causing the increase in the streamflow,” said Ms. Brittan Hullinger, a South Dakota natural resources engineer.

The average annual temperature in South Dakota has increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the 20th century, and most of that warming has occurred in winter and spring.

Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases tend to increase humidity, and thus atmospheric instability, which would encourage tornadoes.

[2]One invasive species that will dominate South Dakotas eastern woodlands due to climate change is buckthorn.

Buckthorn requires adequate precipitation and eastern South Dakota may receive more rainfall due to climate change.

[8] "Rising temperatures and changes in rainfall are likely to have both negative and positive effects on South Dakota’s farms and ranches.

Temperature controls the life cycle and winter mortality rates of pests such as bark beetles, which have infested and killed trees in the Black Hills in recent decades.