Rainy Week Ahead Could Help Minnesota Turn Around A Dry Start to May

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud area is in for showers and thunderstorms over the next several days after an unusually dry start to the month. According to data from the National Weather Service, St. Cloud is behind its precipitation normals by 1.64 inches for the month so far. The situation is similar across most of the state, says National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Taggart.

“We usually start getting a little bit more moisture, especially from the Gulf [of Mexico], but the pattern that we’ve been having is all the rain has been well south of us — Missouri, Texas, Southeastern coast,” Taggart said. “On average, we’re expecting to do 2 to 2 and a half inches of rain. In the last 30 days, it’s been, across northern Minnesota, all less than an inch of rain.”

As of May 17, St. Cloud has only received 0.29 inches of precipitation. However, Taggart says this start-of-the-month dry spell came after a wetter March and April.

“Since March 1st, it’s been pretty much average, because in St. Cloud, you had almost six inches, and that’s around average,” Taggart said of the precipitation record since that date.

Though Taggart says water levels are slightly down in the Mississippi River and Minnesota River, most of Minnesota is not at high risk for drought conditions in the near future.

“The worst conditions are North Dakota and parts of South Dakota and the far northwest and along the Iowa/Minneosta border,” he said. “The rest of the state right now, based on the latest drought monitor, says that anywhere from west-central up to the arrowhead region is near normal.”

In April, the NWS says St. Cloud received 0.56 inches more precipitation than normal.

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