(KNSI) – Drought affects over 98.5% of the state.
That’s up from just over 85% a week ago. The situation in central Minnesota hasn’t changed as much. The northern fifth of Benton County near the border with Morrison County is now in extreme drought. The rest of Benton and all of Sherburne County are in severe drought, or the second stage of four on the scale used by the U.S. Drought Monitor and one step below extreme.
For the last several weeks, the western corner of Stearns County near Belgrade and Brooten, about 10% of the county overall, had still been holding out as abnormally dry. That is no longer the case. Stearns County is cut almost perfectly in half between moderate drought in the western section and severe drought from Freeport to the county line along the Mississippi River.
Exceptional drought remains in Aitkin, Carlton, Freeborn and Mower Counties. That is the worst possible classification and first appeared in last week’s report. It accounts for 1.4% of Minnesota overall.
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