Drought Update

Drought conditions continue to slowly improve in Minnesota.

• 0% of Minnesota is in Exceptional Drought, this is down from 5% last week.
• 23% of Minnesota is in Extreme Drought, this is down from 36% last week.
• 50% of Minnesota is in Severe Drought, this is down from 58% last week.
• 76% of Minnesota is in Moderate Drought, this is down from 85% last week.
• 93% of Minnesota is Abnormally Dry, this is down from 94% last week.

• 0.14% of Wisconsin is in Extreme Drought, this is up from 0.00% last week.
• 3% of Wisconsin is in Severe Drought, this is down from 4% last week.
• 15% of Wisconsin is in Moderate Drought, this is down from 18% last week.
• 33% of Wisconsin is Abnormally Dry, this is down from 37% last week.

• 0.00% of the Midwest is in Exceptional Drought, this is down from 0.99% last week.
• 4% of the Midwest is in Extreme Drought, this is down from 6% last week.
• 10% of the Midwest is in Severe Drought, this is down from 11% last week.
• 21% of the Midwest is in Moderate Drought, this is down from 23% last week.
• 45% of the Midwest is Abnormally Dry, this is up from 44% last week.

• 0.43% of North Dakota is in Exceptional Drought, this is down from 1.86% last week.
• 52% of North Dakota is in Extreme Drought, this is down from 60% last week.
• 92% of North Dakota is in Severe Drought, this is unchanged from last week.
• 99% of North Dakota is in Moderate Drought, this is unchanged from last week.
• 99% of North Dakota is Abnormally Dry, this is unchanged from last week.

Drought Severity Index for the week ending September 18, 2021.

All of northern and northeastern Minnesota still needs an additional 3-4″ of precipitation to end the ongoing drought, while most of northwest Wisconsin needs an additional 2″ of precipitation to end the current drought.

USDA Topsoil Moisture for the week ending September 19, 2021.

Red=Very Dry
Yellow=Dry

Rainfall over the last two weeks was anywhere from 100-200% of normal in most of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.

Rainfall over the last 30 days has ranged from around 100% to over 200% of normal in the green, blue and purple colors, to anywhere from 25% to 90% of normal in the red, orange and yellow colors.

Tim