Much of Minnesota 'Abnormally Dry' After Little Rain in May

UNDATED (WJON News) -- After one of the driest Mays on record in St. Cloud, we're now listed as being abnormally dry in central Minnesota.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released its weekly update Thursday.

They say 66 percent of the state is abnormally dry, which is a dramatic increase from 30 percent last week. Pretty much all of central Minnesota is in the abnormally dry category.

About one percent of the state is in a moderate drought, which is down in the far southwestern corner of the state.

U.S. Drought Monitor

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St. Cloud had just .87 of an inch of rain in May, the 4th driest May on record. We normally have about 3.66 inches of rain in the month, so we were 2.79 inches below normal. This a dramatic difference from last year when 7.32 inches of rain fell in St. Cloud.