SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In some areas of South Dakota the frost is nearly five feet deep, state climatologist Laura Edwards said on Tuesday.
Edwards uses the frost depths from the South Dakota State University Mesonet system and NOAA which also uses Mesonet and other sources.
Frost depths at three sites in the northwestern part of the state were around 57, 59, and 60 inches.
“That’s pushing five feet,” Edwards said.
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Frost depth is the depth at which the soil is frozen.
The SDSU Mesonet listed the frost depth at 52 inches in Lemmon, near the border with North Dakota.
Edwards said frost and cold can cause underground water lines and other utility lines to crack or break. Those lines are buried at “four feet or so and most years, they are OK,” Edwards said.
Prolonged cold and a deep sub-surface frost depth can make underground lines more vulnerable.
So far, the frost depth has not caused any breaks in underground utility lines, the city’s finance director Chad Abel said.