Exceptional Drought Now Affecting Parts of Minnesota

(KNSI) – Parts of Minnesota are now suffering the worst possible drought stage.

The exceptional category is the most drastic on a four-step scale. The U.S. Drought Monitor says it applies to about 1.4% of the state, mostly in Carlton County, and then a patch in the southeast in Freeborn and Mower Counties. Exceptional drought means soil moisture is in the lowest three percent of readings ever taken.

Extreme drought has increased from covering 10 percent of the state to over 14 percent. That could change in next week’s reading as the zone from the headwaters and Lake Itasca to Duluth was hit by heavy rain late Tuesday. The measurements released Thursday were taken that morning.

Locally, the severe category is as bad as it gets. Considered the second stage on the drought scale, it covers all of Benton and Sherburne Counties plus nearly half of Stearns.

Last week, it was only at about 15 percent in Stearns, concentrated in the St. Cloud metro area. Moderate drought makes up most of the central and western parts, and then the far corner near Belgrade and Brooten is still only considered abnormally dry.

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