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1,300–1,550 ft · SD🚗 Directions
Glacial moraine hills in the southeast corner of SD — Newton Hills SP, Union Grove SP, Big Sioux Recreation Area along the Big Sioux River. Bur oak, basswood, American elm, and green ash on the rolling moraine and river-bluff terrain. Eastern deciduous forest at its northwest extension. Good spring morel hunting in oak-basswood draws.
Updated May 29, 4:19 AM MT
**Newton Hills is firing on all cylinders—rare Tier A window with a full 31-species menu live.** Soil temp is locked at 76°F with seven straight days above threshold, and 2.41" over two weeks has saturated the substrate enough to unlock everything from early morels (Half-Free) to late-spring ephemerals like Wine Cap and Dryad's Saddle. The woody decomposer tier is equally hot—Turkey Tail, Artist's Conk, Birch Polypore, and the maze polypores are all triggering simultaneously, which happens maybe twice a season in the upper Midwest. The only real constraint is *desiccation risk*—you're at 0.16 VWC today after that light precip week, so fruiting bodies will dry hard if conditions shift dry. That 0.88" last week bought you this window, but there's no margin for error if the next 3–5 days stay clear. Watch the overnight lows and any clearing trend—if relative humidity drops below 70% consistently, the flush will abort fast. The morels and early softies (Dryad's Saddle, Mica Cap) fruit first and hardest right now; the conks and woody decomposers will hold longer. **Hot tip:** Hit the floodplain margins and seepage zones first—they'll stay moisture-locked 24–48 hours longer than upland substrate, buying you extra margin on the Wine Caps and early oysters before desiccation locks them down.
Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.
Precip 7d
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7 sites
⚠ Road Access Notice
Always verify road access is public before following GPS directions to mountain areas. Many forest roads are seasonal, gated, or require 4WD. Dispersed camping follows USFS/BLM rules (typically 14-day limit). Check ranger district offices for current road and campground conditions.
0.88"
PRISM 4km · thru 05-27
Precip 14d
Observed precipitation from PRISM 4km gridded analysis, sampled at the region centroid through 2026-05-27. Used when no SNOTEL/SCAN station is mapped to this region.2.41"
PRISM 4km · thru 05-27
Soil Temp
76°F
SWE
Snow Water Equivalent — how much water is in the snowpack vs. normal. Declining SWE means snowmelt is adding moisture to the soil.0%
Drought
None
Snowmelt
complete
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
All conditions met (soil 76°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.16 VWC, 7d avg 0.21)
Primordia readiness: Cold = mycelium dormant. Activating = soil warming, primordia building. Primed = 5+ sustained warm days at species threshold; fruiting imminent if moisture cooperates. Based on Schmidt 1983 / Mihail 2007.