SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A quick look at Falls Park shows some improvements after the recent downpours in the Sioux Falls area. But as you might imagine, it takes more than just one weekend of storms to keep the trend going.

August is certainly off to a much wetter start compared to the other months of the summer season in eastern KELOLAND. But the improvement from drought is usually felt last in the river levels.

We usually see some short-term benefits, which the data on the river gauge near 57th Street and Western Avenue clearly shows. You can see the spike on Sunday as the river level jumped over 2 feet, for about a day. Now, the river is returning to just a little above what it was last week inside the city.

The spike on the gauge on North Cliff Avenue was temporary too after some of the fast runoff flowed into the river this weekend.

You might think the rivers in northwest Iowa have gone up after 10 inches of rain near Sioux Center. While the Floyd River south of Orange City saw a good jump, none of the rivers have seen any major flooding as the water continues to recede.

That’s a testament to how dry the soil has been this summer in so many areas of southeast KELOLAND.