Drought Update: Minnesota's Dry, Drought Areas Continue to Shrink

UNDATED (WJON News) -- Timely rainfall has allowed us to continue to chip away at the drought conditions across Minnesota.

U.S. Drought Monitor

Thursday's weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor says 27 percent of the state is still Abnormally Dry, an improvement from 39 percent a week ago. The Moderate Drought area is now down to 8 percent of the state, an improvement from 11 percent last week.

While the report is released on Thursdays, the data is as of 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, so all of the rain we had on Tuesday afternoon and evening won't be factored in until next week's report.

The driest area continues to be in north-central Minnesota.

Here in St. Cloud, we've had 9.29 inches of rain so far this spring which is 2.56 inches above normal.

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The National Weather Service says Isolated to scattered thunderstorms are possible this Thursday afternoon through the night. A few storms in western Minnesota may be strong to severe, with large hail and damaging winds the main hazards.