MINNESOTA, USA — Editors note: The video above originally aired on KARE 11 on Aug. 19, 2021.
Updated numbers from the U.S. Drought Monitor show about half of Minnesota is now considered to be under extreme drought conditions.
Data released this week shows 49.5% of the state is experiencing extreme drought conditions, up from 41.7% last week.
Severe drought still cover 29.9% of Minnesota and exceptional drought conditions remain at 8%, the same as last week.
Swaths of southern and central Minnesota have been hit with bouts of heavy rainfall recently, but Meteorologist Laura Betker explains that much of that water quickly runs off instead of soaking into the ground. Slow, steady rain is needed to better alleviate drought conditions.
Betker says the biggest area of change seen this week on the drought monitor is the expansion of extreme drought conditions across northeastern Minnesota. There was little to no change in the "no drought" and "exceptional drought" categories.
The exceptionally dry summer has made an impact on all corners of the state. Last weekend, Superior National Forest closed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness due to fire activity, drought and "limited resources."
The Greenwood Fire has been burning in northeastern Minnesota for almost two weeks, strengthened by abnormally dry conditions because of the extensive drought, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Clark McCreedy.
Individual cities have issued watering bans, and for the first time since 1988, St. Paul Regional Water, which covers more than 400,000 customers across 11 east metro cities, is issuing fines to people who violate lawn watering restrictions.
Farmers especially have had to bear the brunt of the drought. Even with more rainfall in the past week, Minnesota’s Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen said it’s actually too little, too late for many farmers, because the rain won’t help farmers who have already harvested their crops or are planning to harvest their crops some time in the coming days or weeks.
However, Petersen told KARE 11 corn and soybean farmers could still benefit from late-season bouts of rain.