Minnesota remains in warning phase despite worsening drought startribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from startribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Recent rainfall not enough to lift drought conditions
As the state continues to deal with an unusually dry summer, more and more counties are facing drought conditions. Itasca County is one of many counties recently put under burning restrictions to reduce the risk of fire spread.Â
âGrand Rapids is currently experiencing severe drought, the second of four drought intensity classifications (moderate, severe, extreme and exceptional),â Greg Husak, Lead Information Officer with Ecological and Water Resources stated. âThe northwest corner of Itasca County is experiencing extreme drought.â
This second classification of drought conditions states, âSevere drought. Ground is hard, fire danger is high, river flows are low, well levels decrease.â
Karen Bartunek
REGIONAL Watch for rocks. That’s the best advice area marina operators can give right now as water levels have plunged in recent weeks to levels not seen in several years. It’s been one of the hottest and driest summers in the region in more than a decade, and those conditions have been intensified by the flash drought that began impacting the area over the past month.
Since late June, most local weather stations have reported less than half an inch of rain, during a period when normal rainfall amounts to nearly an inch a week. Hotter than normal weather has only increased the evaporation of water from lakes and streams, while transpiration from struggling plants has left soils exceedingly dry.
Dry, hot conditions are also fueling wildfires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Written By:
Dan Kraker / MPR News | 2:00 pm, Jul. 16, 2021 ×
Corn plant leaves roll up in response to drought and heat as the plant tries to conserve moisture. Photo taken June 22, 2021, near Frazee, Minn. (Dan Gunderson / MPR News File)
Rachel Gray and her family raise beef cattle on their farm in Blackduck, in Beltrami County, in far north-central Minnesota.
Right now she says they re grazing about 500 heifers, along with 17 bulls. But she said that s not going to last much longer. We are currently running out of pasture even though we ve been very careful to manage those areas,” said Gray. “It is like nothing we have seen up here.
We re to the point where anything helps : Drought hits Minnesota farmers, ranchers hard duluthnewstribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from duluthnewstribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.