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(KNSI) – Even with this winter’s snowfall, parts of the area are still abnormally dry.

The US Drought Monitor’s February report shows much of Benton, Sherburne, and Wright counties are in the abnormally dry to moderate drought category.

Michelle Margraf, meteorologist with the National Weather Service says even with above-average precipitation this winter, it still hasn’t been enough.

“Right now in St. Cloud, for the snow season, we’ve had 31.1 inches of snow. Normal by this time is 27.7. So we’re running about 3.4 inches above normal for the snow season. The drought is more of a long-term drought in St. Cloud over to east-central Minnesota. We’ve had dry conditions since last spring, and especially over the summer into early fall. So we’re just trying to get more precipitation, we’ll need a little bit above average to be able to work through this long-range drought.”

The U.S. Drought Monitor released the latest report February 3rd, and it finds almost all of Benton, Sherburne, and Wright counties in the abnormally dry to moderate drought categories.

Margraf says the extra snow this winter will help the region catch-up. “All the excess water that we get will help fill in the watersheds across the area. So that would benefit both the lakes and the rivers.”

To view the drought monitor, click here.

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