In April the Twin Cities was dealing with floods, In June it’s a drought.
Just a few weeks ago the Rum River was raging and the mighty Mississippi was spilling its banks. Now things are the polar opposite.
“We had 90 inches of snow in the Twin Cities – third snowiest winter on record,” said DNR Climatologist Pete Boulay. “That got rid of the drought from last year but now all that water’s gone down the Mississippi. It’s gone into the ground.”
The Rum’s water level has dropped dramatically and the Mississippi River isn’t quite as mighty, as it flows through the North Metro.
Said Boulay: “Basically we have about 150 years of records and it’s about the driest we’ve seen this spell.”
Boulay is concerned about the lack of rain and says this current dry spell began in early May.
“Barely any precipitation has fallen,” Boulay said. “In fact if you go back to May 1st, we’re almost four inches short of normal for that period.”
Rain deficient
The North Metro is rain deficient and this is one of the driest stretches Boulay has seen in decades.
“Drought is part of Minnesota’s climate,” Boulay said. “It always has been. It always will be. Some of our droughts can last many years.”
Baseball fields are baked. Soccer pitches are parched. Lawns are thirsty for some liquid.
“We’ve had multi-year droughts now and that’s what happened in ’88,” Boulay said. “We started out in ’87 dry and ’88 got even worse…It’s about as warm as we’ve ever seen it for late May to early June.”
Minnesota not drought proof
Yes, Minnesota is the land of sky blue waters, but the state isn’t drought-proof.
“Even here we have 12,842 lakes,” Boulay said. “Doesn’t mean the water’s limitless.”
For now North Metro are residents have to face facts – brown is more common than green. No one can control the weather
“The bottom line is think water conservation,” Boulay said.
Boulay encourages everyone to do their small part to save h2o.
“Water your lawn in the morning or the evening…” Boulay said. “Fix those leaks. Do some smart irrigation. Then we can maybe weather another drought.”
According to Boulay the climate prediction center is forecasting more warm weather in June, but next week there is a chance of above normal rain totals.
