Remarkable recovery from Minnesota's drought in the past 6 weeks
Drought conditions have been erased in the majority of Minnesota now.
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Talk about a drought buster.
Our persistently wet weather pattern this fall has erased areas of drought over more than half of Minnesota. Even areas of extreme to exceptional drought have vanished.
Check out the side-by-side comparison at the top of this post. See how the red extreme drought areas in much of Minnesota including the Twin Cities have been wiped out since September 26? The drought zone in Minnesota has receded from 86 percent to 43 percent since September 26.
Precipitation totals of more than 6 to 10 inches have fallen in the past 6 weeks across much of central and southern MInnesota. Check out this precipitation map for the past 30 days. Many locations have picked up 6 to 8 inches of rainfall in the past month.
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The magnitude of that rainfall means that a big swath of southern Minnesota has picked up 2 to 3 times more than average rainfall in the past 30 days.
Soils recharge
The abundant rainfall has recharged soils across most of central and southern Minnesota. Many farmers are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief compared to late September. The fact that soils are now recharged before the winter freeze-up is a benefit that will last into next spring’s planting season.
According to this week’s Minnesota Crop Report, 62 percent of Minnesota’s topsoil moisture is rated as adequate this week. That compares to just 29 percent adequate (and 70 percent short to very short!) on September 25.
The outlook for precipitation for the rest of November basically favors equal chances of above or below-average precipitation.
