(KNSI) – Central Minnesota is now in moderate drought, after being one of the few areas of the state holding out over the past few weeks.
Only one-half of one percent still has normal soil moisture and that is in the extreme northwest corner. Benton, most of Sherburne, and Stearns Counties had been in what is considered a pre-drought stage until the most recent reading.
Locally, a small sliver of Stearns near Paynesville and Eden Valley remains abnormally dry, but that’s the exception. Over 86% of the state is in at least moderate drought.
Severe drought affects a swirl that runs from the arrowhead to the Fargo-Moorhead area and then around to portions of western Blue Earth County. It makes up about 42.5% of the state.
Readings are released weekly on Thursday but they are taken each Tuesday. We have gotten a little precipitation since then, mostly on Tuesday afternoon in St. Cloud proper. The National Weather Service is calling for between a tenth of an inch and a quarter-inch of rain this evening, with a little more possible overnight.
Warm and generally sunny conditions are expected to dominate beginning this weekend again.
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