Mild March for all, but wet or dry in different parts of Minnesota

It’s been a mild March for all of Minnesota. But precipitation this month has been all or nothing depending on where you live.

Mild month

March has been unusually mild this year. Temperatures across Minnesota are running a couple of degrees of either side of 10 degrees warmer than average this month to date. Here’s the March temperature departure map from the Midwest Regional Climate Center.

The warmest zone has been in western Minnesota including the Red River Valley where temperatures are running more than 10 degrees warmer than average for March.

Wet east, dry west

The storm track this month has favored the eastern half of Minnesota. March total precipitation so far is running 100 to 200 percent of average in a swath from south-central Minnesota through the Twin Cities to Duluth. Both the Twin Cities and Duluth have recorded precipitation more than an inch above average this month.

But dryness persists across western Minnesota, especially in the Red River Valley. Precipitation in western Minnesota is running less than 50 percent of average in some areas.

Drought persists in western Minnesota

This week’s soaking rains came in just after the cutoff for this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor update. So the 1+ inches of rainfall from southern Minnesota through the Twin Cities area is not reflected in the map below. The yellow “abnormally dry” area may shrink significantly in next week’s update.

Western Minnesota received less precipitation this week. So drought is like to persist in western Minnesota, and especially the Red River Valley and northwest Minnesota.

Going into the warm season this early, and this dry I must admit I’m a little concerned about fire danger this summer and fall depending on how much precipitation we receive this spring and summer up north.

Stay tuned.