Drought conditions improve for some, persist for others
Biggest improvements in east-central Minnesota, North Shore
East-central Minnesota is no longer considered abnormally dry thanks to soaking rains early this week. The North Shore is out of moderate drought but drought hangs on in north-central and southeastern Minnesota.
Latest drought conditions
The latest drought monitor out Thursday morning shows improvement in east-central Minnesota, including all of the Twin Cities area and also most of the North Shore.
Moderate to severe drought stubbornly hangs onto north-central Minnesota and far southeastern Minnesota. The data cutoff for the Thursday report is 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Comparing this week’s to last week’s drought monitor, you can see the visible changes in east-central Minnesota and most of the North Shore region. Moderate drought conditions hang onto most of Cook County.
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The improvement for some is due largely to the soaking rains received Sunday into Monday. Much of east-central Minnesota and the North Shore saw up to 1 inch or more of rainfall.
Pictured below is seven day rainfall between last week’s and this week’s drought report data points.
Precipitation outlooks
The pattern looks to remain potentially wet and active into next week. A storm system is set to bring widespread, soaking rains potentially Monday into midweek. That’s reflected in the six to 10-day precipitation outlook.
In the medium-range forecast term, conditions are expected to slightly favor drier conditions. Below are the eight to 14-day outlooks and week three outlooks.
