Drought conditions improve slightly across Minnesota, Wisconsin
(FILE/KSTP-TV)
While drought levels remain mostly unchanged across Minnesota and Wisconsin, some slight improvements were recorded in both states over the past week.
The data published Thursday morning by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that both states continue to see a range of dry levels, with the highest being extreme drought in far southeast Minnesota and extreme southwest Wisconsin, as well as north-central Wisconsin.
Keep in mind the data doesn’t include precipitation levels that fell after 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24. Strong thunderstorms moved through the region late Tuesday morning and into the afternoon and evening hours, and additional rain fell overnight Wednesday and throughout Thursday morning.
As of Thursday morning, extreme drought levels in Minnesota covered 1.13% of the state, while that number stands at 3.04% in Wisconsin. Both of those percentages are unchanged from last week. Meanwhile, severe drought is down to 23.35% in Minnesota from 25.96%, while Wisconsin is down to 21.6% from 23.65%.
Moderate drought conditions decreased the most, seeing a change of roughly 4% in Minnesota, and currently stands at 54.45%. Areas experiencing at least abnormally dry conditions still cover nearly 96% of the state. In Wisconsin, moderate drought is reported at 51.8% of the state, down from last week’s report of 68.19%, and the percentage of areas experiencing at least abnormally dry conditions is unchanged, remaining at 93.5%.
In the Twin Cities metro area, the region is seeing abnormally dry to moderate drought, with the far eastern side of Washington County being the only part of the metro not seeing any kind of drought conditions.
Polk and St. Croix counties, as well as part of far northwestern Wisconsin, continue to see either no drought or only abnormally dry conditions.
Although rain is expected to be on and off throughout the day Thursday, the next chance for precipitation is on Saturday, when snow showers may mix in with rain. CLICK HERE for the latest forecast from Minnesota’s Weather Authority and HERE for an interactive radar.