Minnesota is in the middle of one of the warmest and driest summers on record and the dry weather is getting worse by the day.
Pete Boulay is a DNR climatologist. He says the latest U.S. drought monitor now shows that 39% of the state is in severe drought, a shocking 42% in extreme drought, and 8% in exceptional drought. All of these numbers are up from the last reports.
Boulay says at this point we are experiencing worse conditions than that our last very dry year in 2012, but not quite as bad as 1988 yet.
“We've seen this before, many times in the past,” Boulay says. “Every (year) is a little bit different. We’re at the third warmest and driest year in the Twin Cities right now behind 1933 and 1988. Obviously as we stay warm and dry, things will continue to dry out.”
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Boulay also says the Twin Cities are in better shape than other parts of Minnesota however.
“It's worse as you go farther north and west and the worst part right now is pretty much northwest, northcentral Minnesota where it's most intense,” Boulay told Susie Jones. “They're farther behind in precipitation than folks farther south. And oddly enough, there's a small part of Southeast Minnesota that isn't in any drought designation at all along the Mississippi river near La Crosse.”
Boulay also says one year droughts are not uncommon in Minnesota and can be followed by very wet years.
“I'm hoping this is a kind of just a one-year drought,” Boulay says. “We've had those in the past 1976, 1910 were one year droughts, then the next year that followed each of those droughts were really wet here.
So, I'm hoping for something like that to happen for us.”
Dave Kleis is the Mayor of St. Cloud, MN. He says the drought is causing water levels of rivers, and lakes to drop, and St. Cloud officials have terminated the hydroelectric power generator as water levels are very low there.
“For the first time since 1988 we’ve shut down our hydro facility. That’s energy producing for us, and that’s part of Xcel’s energy production too, so that’s not only significant for us. We want to make sure we have preserve and have drinking water, we want to make sure we have energy that’s now not being produced, and the habitat also. All of that is important and critical to us.”
Kleis said there is a drastic difference in water levels between last year and this year.
“Last year on this date, we were on about 10,200 cubic feet per second,” Kleis says. “We just measured yesterday’s flow and it was at 575 cubic feet per second. That’s a significant reduction just in the flow and the level. So we’ve done a number of things, starting when the DNR made their announcement to warning, and asked our community to do voluntary reductions in watering, and now we’re requiring people not to water more than once a week.”
“Mississippi River is one of the most important natural resources in the country. 20 million people get their drinking water from it, all the way from where it starts in Minnesota to the Gulf (of Mexico). We put a lot of resources into preserving that natural resources. When we have a drought, something that’s beyond our control, we want to preserve that critical resource, water, not only for drinking but for energy production and natural habitat. We want to preserve that. Like everyone else, we’re hoping it rains.”
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