St. Cloud Residents Urged To Conserve Water Despite Recent Rain

(KNSI) — A drought that barely registered three months ago now stretches across nearly all of Minnesota. Soaking rains last week eased conditions slightly, but St. Cloud residents are still being asked to conserve water as the state keeps up its response.

In central Minnesota, all of Benton and Sherburne counties and the northeastern half of Stearns County remain in moderate drought, a step below the harsher conditions building to the north.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday, shows almost 89% of the state is at least abnormally dry, down from the week before after the rain. About 70% is at some level of drought, down from 76% a week earlier, and a third of Minnesota remains in severe drought. As recently as early May, roughly 70% of the state carried no dryness at all, and severe drought was virtually nonexistent.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has placed the Mississippi Headwaters watershed under its Drought Warning Response Phase, citing what state climatologists call a “storage drought,” a critical depletion of lake levels, soil moisture and groundwater. St. Cloud sits within the affected watershed and says it is working with the DNR for guidance.

The Mississippi River remains a reliable source of drinking water for the city, but officials say conservation is a key part of the response. The city is encouraging residents to cut back on water use both indoors and out.

The worst conditions are in the northeast, where severe drought reaches from north-central Minnesota to Lake Superior. The dry stretch has fueled a dangerous fire season. Lightning strikes in recent weeks ignited fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Superior National Forest, burning tens of thousands of acres. Recent rain and a passing cold front helped crews stabilize containment lines over the last three days, but a drying trend is expected to return with little rain in the forecast.

The Climate Prediction Center’s outlooks indicate the drought is likely to persist into October. The National Interagency Coordination Center rates northern Minnesota’s wildfire potential as above normal between now and November, the only region in the country still flagged that late in the year.

The latest fire danger and burning restrictions are available from the DNR by clicking here.

___