Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

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Welcome to another warm, windy, mostly dry Minnesota October weekend. 

As many of us bask in our balmy late fall weather pattern, the consistent dryness over the past few months is causing some big problems. Drought is rapidly expanding across the central U.S. now.

The deepening drought has pushed large chunks of the central United States into severe and extreme drought categories. There’s a lot of red on this week’s 

Here are some select data points that caught my eye this week:

Here in the Midwest, dry-drought zone coverage has expanded by 40 percent in the past 4 weeks. 

Here’s the rundown on expanding drought in the Midwest region, especially the Upper Mississippi Valley where we live. 

Most of Minnesota and Iowa have recorded less than an inch of rain in the past month. Many areas have seen less than one-half inch. Check out the 30-day precipitation totals from the Midwest Regional Climate Center. 

There’s an old weather forecast adage that says, “When in a drought, don’t forecast rain.” That seems to ring true looking at the forecast maps for the next one to two weeks. 

The inbound low-pressure system that will bring scattered rains Sunday into Monday looked promising a few days ago. It now appears likely to produce scattered, limited rainfall for our region. 

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 10-day precipitation output model projects only spotty rainfall for Minnesota. The best chance for widespread meaningful rain favors North Dakota. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Severe to extreme drought is expanding through the western and central U.S. A weather system that held the hope for heavy rainfall in Minnesota Sunday night into Monday now appears likely to produce scattered, limited rain.

The dry creek bed is seen below the lip of a waterfall

Ben Hovland | MPR News

NOAA

Midwest Regional Climate Center

European model (ECMWF) precipitation output

Deepening Midwest drought expanding rapidly

Go Deeper.

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