Drought easing, fall color near peak in some spots up north
Exceptional drought is gone from Minnesota.
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It’s been a good week, and a good month for rainfall across most of Minnesota.
Parts of northern Minnesota have picked up 2 to 5 inches of rain in the past week. And a big chunk of Minnesota has received more than 5 inches of rainfall in the past month.
Here’s a look at rainfall totals for the past 30 days across Minnesota.
The extra rainfall has lead to a 1-class improvement in drought categories for much of central and northern Minnesota in this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday.
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Parts of northern Minnesota slid into the exceptional drought category this summer for the first time on record. Our recent rainfall has erased that exceptional drought zone, but most of northern Minnesota is still in extreme drought.
The Twin Cities and much of central Minnesota remain in severe drought. Note that there is no drought in southwest and southeast Minnesota.
Fall color peaking in some locations up north
Thursday’s updated fall color report shows colors are approaching peak now in parts of northwest and northeast Minnesota.
Most of the northern half of Minnesota is showing between 25 and 75-percent color. Most of southern Minnesota is still showing between 10 and 25-percent color.
Cool temperatures this weekend with lows in the 30s up north should continue to push colors toward peak in the northern half of Minnesota in the next week.
