Minnesota's drought gets a breather, not a break
Improvements made to drought monitor with heavier rains
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After several rounds of beneficial rainfall, Minnesota's drought has finally caught a breather.
While recent storms have helped prevent conditions from worsening and even chipped away at the state's most intense drought, large portions of central and northern Minnesota remain thirsty heading into July.
A breather, but not a break
The latest drought conditions report shows slight improvement across Minnesota, with recent rainfall helping prevent conditions from worsening in many areas.
The most significant drought continues to stretch from central into north-central Minnesota, where severe drought remains in place. An area of moderate drought extends across portions of central, southeastern and southwestern Minnesota, while abnormally dry conditions cover northern and southern portions.
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The good news is that the extreme drought has been eliminated from southwestern Minnesota, in a comparison from last week’s monitor. Thirty percent of the state remains in drought, down from 40 percent last week. Just over 71 percent of the state is abnormally dry.
The recent storm pattern produced widespread rainfall across much of Minnesota. Large portions of the state picked up 1 to 3 inches of rain in the seven-day period from June 23 to June 30.
This rainfall is what lead to the elimination of extreme drought in southwestern Minnesota.
As shown in the seven-day precipitation anomaly map, many locations received one-half inch to 1 inch above their average weekly rainfall.
Recent rains have improved topsoil moisture and provided welcome relief for crops and vegetation. However, one week of rain can't erase months of precipitation deficits or replenish deeper soil moisture.
As the graphic below illustrates, much of central and southern Minnesota still has dry soils below the surface, a reminder that the drought's impacts extend well beyond what we see after a few rainy days.
Additional rounds of rain during July will be needed to continue improving drought conditions, particularly across central and north-central Minnesota where the most persistent drought remains entrenched.
Recent storms have given Minnesota's drought a much-needed breather, but not a break. It will take several more widespread soaking rains over the coming weeks before the state can make meaningful progress toward this year's drought.
