Minnesota drought update

  New info from the U.S. Drought Monitor (http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/) shows that drought conditions have worsened over Minnesota during the past two weeks. Here is the current map:

  The map and chart show that 96.32% of Minnesota is experiencing drought conditions, compared to 64.11% of Minnesota two weeks ago. Currently, 44.89% of Minnesota is experiencing severe to extreme drought, compared to 28.17% of Minnesota two weeks ago. Only 3.68% of Minnesota is not considered to be in drought. Conditions there are classified as abnormally dry, and parts of the south metro fall into that category. The Minnesota State Climatology Office has a detailed discussion of Minnesota drought conditions at (http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/drought_2012.htm).

   Farmers still hope to see some rain, to recharge our soil moisture. A substantial rainfall or two would also help our lawns, lakes, rivers and creeks. Watching and hoping…

  I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda