Parts of Minnesota are facing a severe drought triggering statewide conservation warnings.
State Climatologist Luigi Romolo says the latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that nearly half of the state is facing severe conditions, and that five major watersheds have been placed into a formal warning phase, a sign that the state continues to get way too dry.
"The Mississippi headwaters watershed, the Missouri, Big Sioux watershed, the Rainy River watershed, the Western Lake Superior watershed, and the Saint Croix watershed," Romolo explains are all in the Drought Warning Response Phase.
He says local water suppliers have been asked to scale back usage and that everyday Minnesotans should also start to do things to conserve water.
"We water our lawns with drinking water. We don't need to water our lawns when we're in a drought," Romolo said. "Anything that can save a drop today is a drop that we can use tomorrow."
Romolo says future conditions will depend on whether seasonal rain patterns can provide some relief.
As for the Extreme Drought, that designation has now crept into the state's western borders in Norman, Clay and Polk counties, near Fargo-Moorhead. But a large swath of the state is now in Severe Drought, from the Arrowhead region through the southeastern part of the Twin Cities.
Watersheds in the Drought Warning Phase, public water suppliers are required to implement water conservation measures, with the goal of reducing water consumption to no more than 150% of January levels. For watersheds in the Drought Restrictive Phase, public water suppliers are required to implement water conservation measures, with the goal of reducing water consumption to no more than 125% of January levels.
This isn't the first severe drought in recent memory, Romolo explains, pointing to a now years-long dry spell for Minnesota.
"We've been through worse. This is definitely a significant drought," Romolo adds. "It's competing right now with the 2021 drought. Should this drought continue through the rest of the growing season and into the winter, it will certainly be, could be as bad as the 2021 drought."
He says while it's normal for there to be some drought in Minnesota, they can be unpredictable and its still unclear how long this one will last.
The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday, August 20 shows:
- 13% of Minnesota is experiencing abnormally dry conditions, no change from last week.
- 30% of the state is in moderate drought, no change from last week.
- 44% is in severe drought, down from 45% last week.
- 1% is in extreme drought, up from 0% last week.
There is some rain in the forecast Thursday, but it's scattered and nowhere near enough to dent the current drought. WCCO-TV Chief Meteorologist Chris Shaffer says some might be of the severe nature, however.
"We do expect some showers and thunderstorms to fire up," Shaffer says. "It'll be a broken line, so some will get it, others won't. And the big concern is initially when these things fire up, there could be some hail and the thunderstorms, and this is why the Storm Prediction Center put us in a slight risk for severe weather. It's basically a 2 on a scale of 5."
And going forward? More dry weather.
"The next best chance of rain likely holds off till late Monday into Tuesday," Shaffer says.
