Near-record drought conditions take toll on Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS -- A streak of drier-than-normal weather continued to impact much of Minnesota through October.
October 2022 was the sixth driest October in the Twin Cities ever recorded, with just .24 inches of precipitation.
"The record is actually .01 inches back in 1952. So we at least got more than that. There's a positive there," joked Caleb Grunzke with the National Weather Service Twin Cities.
The dry October comes after the driest September ever recorded in the Twin Cities and the fourth driest August.
"So we're really not getting a break. We're not getting anything substantial moisture-wise in our area at all. Now we're entering another month, starting off dry. Again," said Pete Boulay, Climatologist with the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources.
The persistent dryness has 2022 on track to be one of the driest in the Twin Cities and Minnesota history.
"Normally, we're right around 28-29 inches of rainfall for the Twin Cities and we're at just a little over 18," Grunzke said.
"There's not much water in the soil at all right now. The top two feet is basically no water left in it," said Boulay. "This is five months of precip that's missing, that we didn't get"
As for what's causing the drought, Boulay says any significant storm activity has strayed from the Twin Cities metro area
"We're just not in the storm path. You know every time we think a storm is coming, it either underperforms or moves to another location. They're either passing off to our north or passing off to our southeast. We just haven't been in the zone, basically from the Twin Cities to the southeast part of the state where the drought is the worst and we just haven't been able to get any moisture here," he said. "Lake Minnetonka's the lowest it's been in thirty years. I'm starting to see wetlands begin to dry up. People are having trouble with their boats"
As for when we could see relief from the drought, that is unclear.
"This drought will certainly continue into the start of 2023 but once we get into the spring and the warm season again, anything could happen. We could be kicked right out of the drought. It could get worse. There's really no way to tell," Boulay said. We'll take any moisture we can get at this point but really, we'll still be in this drought come spring unless something really major happens over the winter."
But there is a more immediate concern with the drought. Much of the state is at a "high" risk for fire danger given higher than average winds and temperatures combined with the lower-than-usual rainfall.
"With dry fuels around the state, it only takes a little spark and you could have a fire quickly grow and possibly become out of control," Grunzke said.
