Widespread Rain in Central, Southern Minnesota Wednesday Could Put Dent in Drought Conditions

(KNSI) – Some parts of Minnesota will see some relief from this summer’s drought conditions as rain moves in Wednesday.

St. Cloud is projected to see half an inch to an inch of rainfall that day, while southern Minnesota could see more, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Eric Ahasic.

“We’re looking at amounts for about half an inch to an inch across Central Minnesota, down to around the I-94 corridor or so,” Ahasic said. “From the Twin Cities south, greater than an inch, north of the Twin Cities, probably half an inch to an inch. We could see amounts of two to three inches, maybe even localized amounts higher than that down toward the Iowa border … certainly our first good, widespread rain in quite a while.”

That widespread precipitation is needed, as most of Minnesota — including the St. Cloud metro — is in a state of moderate or severe drought. Though Wednesday’s rainfall can help relieve some of the effects of the drought, Ahasic says the moisture is not likely to stick around.

“This is it for the next week and through next weekend; Wednesday’s our only chance for rain,” Ahasic said. “If we get areas that see an inch, two inches or more, that’s going to actually help to put a dent in the drought. But, if you only see a quarter inch or half an inch out of this, it’ll maybe make the grass green up quickly, but when we’re going to get hot and dry temperatures in the 90s this time of year, things dry out really quickly.

“We could see a little bit of improvement in [the drought] across southern Minnesota, but it’s not going to just totally wipe out the drought,” Ahasic continued. “We need a couple of events like this, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to see that, at least in the near future.”

The strong chance of showers and thunderstorms in the St. Cloud area Wednesday could lead to severe weather. Ahasic says it’s too early to know if any tornadic activity will be likely, but severe thunderstorms and strong winds would be the most likely severe weather threats to develop Wednesday.

The latest NWS forecast for St. Cloud calls for showers and thunderstorms starting around 1 p.m. Wednesday and lasting until about 1 a.m. Thursday with projected total rainfall between 3/4 inches and 1 1/4 inches. A 30 percent chance of rain continues into Thursday. Also, there is a 10 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms and showers before 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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