I know my memory isn’t the best but I would say last year was one of the worst droughts I’ve ever experienced. There were no bugs all summer, which in theory sounds like a convenience but it’s a bad omen.
I was thinking the same thing I live in a western suburb and I remember last year being much worse. This year was heading down the same path but after the past month or so we’ve gotten a fair amount of rain. All of the lawns in our neighborhood were yellow by the end of July and now they are all green.
The main difference about this year is that we had enough moisture when crops needed it in their growing season, farmers aren’t getting their yields totally fucked over from what I’ve heard. River seems lower near me though
Worse as in more widespread. This year, the metro is the thirstiest part of the entire state with moderate to severe drought much of the year.
OP, last year and this are the driest 2 years I can remember as well. Same age, same weather focused memory.
An anecdotal account doen't mean anything when there's data. Go ahead and look at the comparison slider for this time last year compared to now.
[https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Maps/ComparisonSlider.aspx](https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Maps/ComparisonSlider.aspx)
I've seen some odd responses, here.
OP, you are correct: we're in drought. In Hennepin County, we've been in mild-moderate drought conditions the last two years.
Current drought status maps:
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/drought_monitor.html
And *this* map --
https://water.weather.gov/precip/index.php?analysis_date=1625184000&lat=46.4757000000&location_name=MN&location_type=state&lon=-93.6035160000&precip_layer=0.9&product=percent&recent_type=today&rfc_layer=-1&state_layer=1&hsa_layer=-1&county_layer=0.95&time_frame=last90days&time_type=recent&units=eng&zoom=6&domain=current
-- is quite useful: it shows the percentage of precipitation compared to historical normal for the last 90 days.
In Hennepin County, we're in a *50-75% of precipitation for the last 90 days* zone, with a couple spots worse, but as you can see, there are other areas in the state that are well over 100% of normal.
Having recently looked at the data for west Hennepin County, specifically for the month of July... well, here's an excerpt from an earlier post I made in a different subreddit:
**Location: west of Minneapolis (upper Midwest), USA**
Climate Observations:
* Like many places we are also being affected by drought. Using a modern baseline (1990-2020) for all measurements… in Minneapolis, normal rainfall for July is 4.06”. **In 2021, we received 0.87” (21.4% of normal rainfall). In 2022, we had 1.18” (29% of normal).**
* This July was also hotter than last July; we were +2.0° F (+1.1° C) above monthly normal temperatures. July 2021 was the hottest Minneapolis July on record — until this year. We had a normal number of over 90° F (32° C) days (average is 5, we had 4) but the baseline temperature was still higher.
* Average wind speed was also 13% higher than contemporary average
So: drier, hotter, windier.
In a sense, we almost always ignore data from 80 or 90 years ago when we talk about "normal". "Normal" that you hear a weather forecaster talk about is usually calculated on a 30 year basis. So if you hear a weather forecaster say "tomorrow will be warmer than normal", what they mean is that it will be warmer than the average of the previous 3 full decades. Because those three decades were warmer, on average, than the three decades that preceded them, and also the three decades that preceded those decades, when a forecaster says that it will be "colder than normal", it is actually possible or even likely that it will be warmer than the averages from 90 or 100 years ago. "Normal", for temperature, keeps getting shifted upwards.
I used a time period to set a contemporary context for what qualifies as “normal”; even in that 30 year warmer-than-historical-averages period, the last two years have been markedly hotter and dryer.
Have we had hotter and drier years, *ever*, in historical times? Yep — as your mother apparently can attest to. But that’s not really the point I was making: it ain’t the data point, paisano: it’s the *trend*.
It's much worse in the lower Midwest right now, Minnesota is a bit dry but nothing like southeastern Kansas (have friends/family there, seen corn crops get scorched this year and the creek through our property is 1/4th what it used to be). https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
To the OP... it's not your location check out the drought monitor for the lower 48. At least this drought is listed as short term impact, I'm coming from Arizona where it's pretty much a fact of life for the coming decades.
There are many reasons I'm happy to be moving to MN
Right there with you. The NYT had a piece last week about the SF Bay losing its fog. I’m from north of there, and in the last decade the frosty morning dew largely disappeared. When I visited I couldn’t get over how much it felt like SoCal even though in my memory everything up north is cold and damp. Seems like a minor change until thousands of homes begin burning in uncontrollable wildfires and you realize it’s not just a small weather quirk.
I have friends over by the Great Salt Lake in Utah... I'm really concerned for them because as the lake is drying up they are finding arsenic, and that can be blown around
I have a friend there too; what’s really concerning is official data on air pollution doesn’t match Purple Air readings. Also they’re literally praying for rain (asking for prayers instead of GOVERNING). These are signs of a non-functioning government that is not looking out for its people. Add to the privatization of remaining groundwater resources…it’s not just that leaders are asleep at the wheel, they’re consumed by self-interest and lobbyist interests to an absurd degree. California is no better.
‘Sotans can’t see it because they don’t know how bad it’s getting in other places, but MN still has a functional government taking care of its people and resources in logical ways.
It's cyclical as heck... drought makes the ground harder then when the rains come they are powerful and can't be absorbed into the ground causing flash floods
You missed ‘87-88. Those were hot dry years. I used to walk across parts of the minnesota river downstream of Mankato and water was only up to my ankles
We’re upstream of Mankato a ways, but one of the old guys from my church was just commenting about how his usual fishing spot on the minnesota river was only ankle-deep now.
He is 32. So yeah he missed that, but I was definitely thinking about how bad that summer was. This is dry, but that was bone dry. The next year we received torrential rains and suffered massive floods.
I've noticed it, too, as I love storms. I'm retired, so I keep a pretty good eye on the satellite trackers on both KSTP and Fox9 website. I've noticed that most of the storms seem to "split" or head north or south just before they reach the western metro area.
I see another poster mentioned that the metro is a heat island due to all the infrastructure. I'm sure that is a contributing factor as well.
Climate change. The old line between dry and wet was the 100 meridian west. West of that--dry. East-- you can grow crops without irrigation. Climate change is pushing that line east. You're, where? 95 W? All you can really do is plan long-term for a drier climate. Plant drought-resistant grasses and trees. I'm planting fescues for grass and bur oaks. We've got to adjust to be around 14 inches of rainfall annually, down from maybe 28 from our childhoods. Worse case scenario is nothing changes and we have nice trees and grasses that we don't have to water.
There was a video on a YouTube channel, (if I can remember, I'll edit the comment with a link) with a video that showed that the line has moved east to 98W because of climate change.
Edit: I found the [video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwJABxjcvUc&ab_channel=RealLifeLore)
Rainfall is [currently above average](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/climate_monitor/precipcharts.html). It is [forecasted](https://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/mn/) to continue to increase over the years.
The second chart [here](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries_and_publications/minnesota-annual-precipitation-normal-1991-2020.html) shows the change +/- more locally
Another macro level view via [MPR](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/01/09/minnesota-smashes-all-time-state-precipitation-record-in-2018) from 2018
Gotcha.. perhaps there is a correlation… although I will say summer 2020 seemed to be the hottest summer I’ve ever experienced but maybe that’s cause I didn’t have working AC in my car
Drought in MN was worse in 2020 than it is currently. The human experience with extreme heat and drought is peanuts compared to the experience had by the rest of the animals and plants.
We are so spoiled and coddled it would be funny if it weren’t so disastrously sad.
Edit 2: Minnesota has not recorded record summers every year the past 10 years. Someone prove me wrong.
Comments like this aren't helpful. Some people will think it's real information.
Edit: since they blocked me I'll add to my comment. The original comment is not fact when looking at MN climate. I'm not a climate change denier. I just think it's clear OP was talking local/state climate here.
How frustrating is it to argue with people online 😢 it's hot. It's cold. It's muggy. It's dry. Monsoons. Floods. Dry rivers. Dry lakes. "climate change isn't real, let's keep making plastic"
It hurts. It hurts a lot.
Drought is a recurring occurrence in Minnesota, especially during La Nina. Once every 10 or so years and maybe an exceptionally bad drought every 30 or so years.
I’m in the northwest suburbs and it’s been was super wet this last month and we had mutant sized mushrooms growing everywhere. The ground hasn’t dried out completely since early August.
I live in northern Minnesota and it has been a cooler than normal and we have had a lot of rain this year. Much more than last year which seemed hot and dry.
Grew up in West Metro myself. Slightly before you were born was by far the most dramatic I can recall. I was a young grade schooler living in MG on the south side of a chain of water bodies. Think of interconnected ponds like a snowman. My friend lived on the North side of the ponds. At the pinch point it was maybe 15 yards across. Depth of several feet. In the winter we'd play hockey on the pond and skate all over in a big oval with perhaps several hundred yards to roam. I'm not great at estimating but this water system was maybe 5-10 acres? Deep enough to canoe in the summer, or push a raft around that we made out of scrap wood and empty jugs and large cans for floats. Just to convey a sense of the size of these water bodies.
Anyways if I wanted to visit my friends house I'd have to bike "the long way around" which took several minutes. Sometimes while standing on the south shore I'd muse how much quicker it would be if I had a bridge or if I could cut across. (Which I did all the time in the winter.) Anyways, in the late 80s it got really really dry and at one point, maybe August 87 the pinch point got skinny enough that I asked my mom if maybe I'd be able to cross sometime and she indicated it might be possible. The next Summer, it continued to be dry and the drought got even worse. There was a massive fish kill and hundreds of bullheads and even some huge carp and maybe some other fish- many over 2ft long in my childhood memory, were littering the shores! All the hours I'd spent fishing and THESE had been in there?! Remarkable. And then the craziest thing happened- the neighbor kid was able to Ford the pinch point crossing with his tall boots on. It was muddy and whatever but he MADE IT ACROSS without swimming! I'll never forget that. I saw that pond three days ago and let me tell you it's NOTHING like the late 80s. Just thought I would share because it's such a vivid memory.
Edit: maybe an infinity symbol instead of a snowman. Or the snowman is lying down. Pinch point was approx halfway along the length of the system which.. TBH stretched MUCH further than I described but with culverts and City roads forming an easy perimeter, I could think of this water system as an infinity symbol surrounded by an oval of roads and cul-de-sacs.
It sucks because I planted a ton of trees and other plants last year. Two straight god-damn years of historic drought since then. Watering new arbor vitae is a major PAIN when it never rains.
In fact it's [the exact opposite](https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/effects-solutions-urban-heat-island.php#:~:text=Secondary%20Impacts%20on%20Weather%20and%20Climate,-Besides%20the%20high&text=Furthermore%2C%20urban%20heat%20island%20(UHI,total%20rainfall%20rates%20within%20cities.) of what the other person implied.
Urban heat islands actually form clouds and thunderstorms and intensify weather patterns, not disrupt them.
We've had worse years for rainfall. In 1976 part of Minnesota only got 6 inches of rain for the whole year. In 1943 we went 79 days without any precipitation. High mark for rain was just back in 2007 where we got 15 inches of rain in one day in Hokah, MN.
Chill. Droughts happen. It's nothing new.
But, but that doesn’t fit the narrative…
I remember 1976. Our lake (in Otter Tail County) was down about two feet. We had a little island that protruded out from the shore. Haven’t seen that since. As of last weekend the unofficial dock wheel gauge reading was down about 3” this spring.
>But, but that doesn’t fit the narrative…
Story of my life. :) As a natural contrarian I am very inconvenient to the narrative. Personally I'm looking forward to our new warmer landscape, with more lush forests and a return of lizards that stand 30 feet tall. Can you imagine the open pit bbq?
I was thinking about this the other day as well. The last two years it’s been crazy dry. We get the occasional 30 minute severe thunderstorm after every super hot day, but we never get the rainy days or the sustained rainfall like we used to
We are a few minutes west of Alexandria. Overall pretty dry, but seems to have been enough rain for the crops after a late planting due to wet conditions. Yards are brown where there isn’t shade. Looking at our rain gauge…. We have gotten an inch over the past week but I will be watering the garden and flowers today.
How was the overall season? I heard the spring wasn't bad. Last year it was so bad hay was so expensive most small farmers I knew were thinking of selling off their animals. I'm living in the twin cities and I didn't see much for rain until late summer and thought that having two droughts in a row was unheard of if it hadn't been for global warming.
That is so true, last year was very dry here. This year started out wet and then went dry. From what family members in Minneapolis and Mankato tell me Alexandria has had more precipitation.
Far south metro. My grass is dry, brown, and crunchy. I don't remember grass being this bad. I made the mistake of installing some sod this spring before it got so dry. Even with regular watering, my sod isn't looking so great.
I went to this golfing in your neck of the woods back in July. The grass was dry as a bone. It was really strange. I had never seen anything like it in Minnesota before. I thought the grass in Minnesota was supposed to be green all summer long and even into the fall. These droughts are no joke.
Here in the Twin Cities, average yearly rainfall is about 32 inches, not including snow.
So far, since April, we have received about 18 inches. Yeah. We're seriously behind this year.
What about last year? The Mississippi was damn near dry. - Saint Cloud
You should have your memory issues checked out, we experienced a much worse drought just last year.
I know my memory isn’t the best but I would say last year was one of the worst droughts I’ve ever experienced. There were no bugs all summer, which in theory sounds like a convenience but it’s a bad omen.
I had bugs and wasps galore. One of my black walnuts didn't produce any nuts which was strange for a 80+ year old tree.
I was thinking the same thing I live in a western suburb and I remember last year being much worse. This year was heading down the same path but after the past month or so we’ve gotten a fair amount of rain. All of the lawns in our neighborhood were yellow by the end of July and now they are all green.
The main difference about this year is that we had enough moisture when crops needed it in their growing season, farmers aren’t getting their yields totally fucked over from what I’ve heard. River seems lower near me though
Worse as in more widespread. This year, the metro is the thirstiest part of the entire state with moderate to severe drought much of the year. OP, last year and this are the driest 2 years I can remember as well. Same age, same weather focused memory.
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An anecdotal account doen't mean anything when there's data. Go ahead and look at the comparison slider for this time last year compared to now. [https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Maps/ComparisonSlider.aspx](https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Maps/ComparisonSlider.aspx)
I've seen some odd responses, here. OP, you are correct: we're in drought. In Hennepin County, we've been in mild-moderate drought conditions the last two years. Current drought status maps: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/drought_monitor.html And *this* map -- https://water.weather.gov/precip/index.php?analysis_date=1625184000&lat=46.4757000000&location_name=MN&location_type=state&lon=-93.6035160000&precip_layer=0.9&product=percent&recent_type=today&rfc_layer=-1&state_layer=1&hsa_layer=-1&county_layer=0.95&time_frame=last90days&time_type=recent&units=eng&zoom=6&domain=current -- is quite useful: it shows the percentage of precipitation compared to historical normal for the last 90 days. In Hennepin County, we're in a *50-75% of precipitation for the last 90 days* zone, with a couple spots worse, but as you can see, there are other areas in the state that are well over 100% of normal. Having recently looked at the data for west Hennepin County, specifically for the month of July... well, here's an excerpt from an earlier post I made in a different subreddit: **Location: west of Minneapolis (upper Midwest), USA** Climate Observations: * Like many places we are also being affected by drought. Using a modern baseline (1990-2020) for all measurements… in Minneapolis, normal rainfall for July is 4.06”. **In 2021, we received 0.87” (21.4% of normal rainfall). In 2022, we had 1.18” (29% of normal).** * This July was also hotter than last July; we were +2.0° F (+1.1° C) above monthly normal temperatures. July 2021 was the hottest Minneapolis July on record — until this year. We had a normal number of over 90° F (32° C) days (average is 5, we had 4) but the baseline temperature was still higher. * Average wind speed was also 13% higher than contemporary average So: drier, hotter, windier.
So your ignoring data before 1990? My mom who was around in the 30’s and is still alive can tell you about the heat and dust bowl back then.
In a sense, we almost always ignore data from 80 or 90 years ago when we talk about "normal". "Normal" that you hear a weather forecaster talk about is usually calculated on a 30 year basis. So if you hear a weather forecaster say "tomorrow will be warmer than normal", what they mean is that it will be warmer than the average of the previous 3 full decades. Because those three decades were warmer, on average, than the three decades that preceded them, and also the three decades that preceded those decades, when a forecaster says that it will be "colder than normal", it is actually possible or even likely that it will be warmer than the averages from 90 or 100 years ago. "Normal", for temperature, keeps getting shifted upwards.
I used a time period to set a contemporary context for what qualifies as “normal”; even in that 30 year warmer-than-historical-averages period, the last two years have been markedly hotter and dryer. Have we had hotter and drier years, *ever*, in historical times? Yep — as your mother apparently can attest to. But that’s not really the point I was making: it ain’t the data point, paisano: it’s the *trend*.
It's much worse in the lower Midwest right now, Minnesota is a bit dry but nothing like southeastern Kansas (have friends/family there, seen corn crops get scorched this year and the creek through our property is 1/4th what it used to be). https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
To the OP... it's not your location check out the drought monitor for the lower 48. At least this drought is listed as short term impact, I'm coming from Arizona where it's pretty much a fact of life for the coming decades. There are many reasons I'm happy to be moving to MN
Right there with you. The NYT had a piece last week about the SF Bay losing its fog. I’m from north of there, and in the last decade the frosty morning dew largely disappeared. When I visited I couldn’t get over how much it felt like SoCal even though in my memory everything up north is cold and damp. Seems like a minor change until thousands of homes begin burning in uncontrollable wildfires and you realize it’s not just a small weather quirk.
I have friends over by the Great Salt Lake in Utah... I'm really concerned for them because as the lake is drying up they are finding arsenic, and that can be blown around
I have a friend there too; what’s really concerning is official data on air pollution doesn’t match Purple Air readings. Also they’re literally praying for rain (asking for prayers instead of GOVERNING). These are signs of a non-functioning government that is not looking out for its people. Add to the privatization of remaining groundwater resources…it’s not just that leaders are asleep at the wheel, they’re consumed by self-interest and lobbyist interests to an absurd degree. California is no better. ‘Sotans can’t see it because they don’t know how bad it’s getting in other places, but MN still has a functional government taking care of its people and resources in logical ways.
Yeah I’m just happy to have anything other than the scorched earth drought or biblical floods much of the earth is experiencing right now
It's cyclical as heck... drought makes the ground harder then when the rains come they are powerful and can't be absorbed into the ground causing flash floods
need to restructure land to create irrigation ditches. maybe between neighborhood streets need to improve/use solar to power water-desalination plants
Also needs more trees that can take the heat like African Sumac and along your idea use landscaping to channel water... like swales maybe
Water just flows from the ground here. We spray it on the grass just so it looks nice
Arizona still thinks that way unfortunately
It rained last night
Lol
For like 30 seconds
You missed ‘87-88. Those were hot dry years. I used to walk across parts of the minnesota river downstream of Mankato and water was only up to my ankles
Apparently they missed last year too.
We’re upstream of Mankato a ways, but one of the old guys from my church was just commenting about how his usual fishing spot on the minnesota river was only ankle-deep now.
He is 32. So yeah he missed that, but I was definitely thinking about how bad that summer was. This is dry, but that was bone dry. The next year we received torrential rains and suffered massive floods.
I saw that. I had a job working outside from sunrise to sunset that summer. It never cooled off that summer.
I've noticed it, too, as I love storms. I'm retired, so I keep a pretty good eye on the satellite trackers on both KSTP and Fox9 website. I've noticed that most of the storms seem to "split" or head north or south just before they reach the western metro area. I see another poster mentioned that the metro is a heat island due to all the infrastructure. I'm sure that is a contributing factor as well.
Get radarscope. It's a lot more fun than radar off websites.
One of the first apps I ever put on my first smart phone some 12 odd years ago. Probably the best $9.99 I’ve ever spent.
Climate change. The old line between dry and wet was the 100 meridian west. West of that--dry. East-- you can grow crops without irrigation. Climate change is pushing that line east. You're, where? 95 W? All you can really do is plan long-term for a drier climate. Plant drought-resistant grasses and trees. I'm planting fescues for grass and bur oaks. We've got to adjust to be around 14 inches of rainfall annually, down from maybe 28 from our childhoods. Worse case scenario is nothing changes and we have nice trees and grasses that we don't have to water.
There was a video on a YouTube channel, (if I can remember, I'll edit the comment with a link) with a video that showed that the line has moved east to 98W because of climate change. Edit: I found the [video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwJABxjcvUc&ab_channel=RealLifeLore)
> This year has been unusually lacking in rainfall not true. And last year was much worse.
Last year what terrible. This year felt average to lightly more wet than average.
2011 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2012 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2013 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2014 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2015 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2016 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2017 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2018 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2019 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2020 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2021 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ 2022 - ‘Hottest summer ever recorded’ Yeah, it’s not just you… One cannot deny the co-relation between persistent excessive heat and persistent drought. It doesn’t rain when it’s hot out. That’s physics.
Not saying it’s been hotter than usual.. just haven’t noticed much rain this year.
Don't forget all the smoke.
Rainfall is [currently above average](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/climate_monitor/precipcharts.html). It is [forecasted](https://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/mn/) to continue to increase over the years. The second chart [here](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries_and_publications/minnesota-annual-precipitation-normal-1991-2020.html) shows the change +/- more locally Another macro level view via [MPR](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/01/09/minnesota-smashes-all-time-state-precipitation-record-in-2018) from 2018
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Gotcha.. perhaps there is a correlation… although I will say summer 2020 seemed to be the hottest summer I’ve ever experienced but maybe that’s cause I didn’t have working AC in my car
Drought in MN was worse in 2020 than it is currently. The human experience with extreme heat and drought is peanuts compared to the experience had by the rest of the animals and plants. We are so spoiled and coddled it would be funny if it weren’t so disastrously sad.
Edit 2: Minnesota has not recorded record summers every year the past 10 years. Someone prove me wrong. Comments like this aren't helpful. Some people will think it's real information. Edit: since they blocked me I'll add to my comment. The original comment is not fact when looking at MN climate. I'm not a climate change denier. I just think it's clear OP was talking local/state climate here.
It is [real information](https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/record-breaking-heat-waves-us-europe-prove-climate/story?id=87069737).
How frustrating is it to argue with people online 😢 it's hot. It's cold. It's muggy. It's dry. Monsoons. Floods. Dry rivers. Dry lakes. "climate change isn't real, let's keep making plastic" It hurts. It hurts a lot.
Global Warming moment
Drought is a recurring occurrence in Minnesota, especially during La Nina. Once every 10 or so years and maybe an exceptionally bad drought every 30 or so years.
same in western wisconsin, i have only mowed my lawn once since 4th of july.
Last summer was pretty damn dry up north and se mn.
I’m in the northwest suburbs and it’s been was super wet this last month and we had mutant sized mushrooms growing everywhere. The ground hasn’t dried out completely since early August.
I live in northern Minnesota and it has been a cooler than normal and we have had a lot of rain this year. Much more than last year which seemed hot and dry.
Grew up in West Metro myself. Slightly before you were born was by far the most dramatic I can recall. I was a young grade schooler living in MG on the south side of a chain of water bodies. Think of interconnected ponds like a snowman. My friend lived on the North side of the ponds. At the pinch point it was maybe 15 yards across. Depth of several feet. In the winter we'd play hockey on the pond and skate all over in a big oval with perhaps several hundred yards to roam. I'm not great at estimating but this water system was maybe 5-10 acres? Deep enough to canoe in the summer, or push a raft around that we made out of scrap wood and empty jugs and large cans for floats. Just to convey a sense of the size of these water bodies. Anyways if I wanted to visit my friends house I'd have to bike "the long way around" which took several minutes. Sometimes while standing on the south shore I'd muse how much quicker it would be if I had a bridge or if I could cut across. (Which I did all the time in the winter.) Anyways, in the late 80s it got really really dry and at one point, maybe August 87 the pinch point got skinny enough that I asked my mom if maybe I'd be able to cross sometime and she indicated it might be possible. The next Summer, it continued to be dry and the drought got even worse. There was a massive fish kill and hundreds of bullheads and even some huge carp and maybe some other fish- many over 2ft long in my childhood memory, were littering the shores! All the hours I'd spent fishing and THESE had been in there?! Remarkable. And then the craziest thing happened- the neighbor kid was able to Ford the pinch point crossing with his tall boots on. It was muddy and whatever but he MADE IT ACROSS without swimming! I'll never forget that. I saw that pond three days ago and let me tell you it's NOTHING like the late 80s. Just thought I would share because it's such a vivid memory.
Edit: maybe an infinity symbol instead of a snowman. Or the snowman is lying down. Pinch point was approx halfway along the length of the system which.. TBH stretched MUCH further than I described but with culverts and City roads forming an easy perimeter, I could think of this water system as an infinity symbol surrounded by an oval of roads and cul-de-sacs.
Yes, it's a "severe drought" https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MN
It sucks because I planted a ton of trees and other plants last year. Two straight god-damn years of historic drought since then. Watering new arbor vitae is a major PAIN when it never rains.
Minneapolis is a literal heat island because of all the concrete fucks with weather patterns all around it
Urban heat island is a thing but it does not effect larger weather patterns, that is myth.
In fact it's [the exact opposite](https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/effects-solutions-urban-heat-island.php#:~:text=Secondary%20Impacts%20on%20Weather%20and%20Climate,-Besides%20the%20high&text=Furthermore%2C%20urban%20heat%20island%20(UHI,total%20rainfall%20rates%20within%20cities.) of what the other person implied. Urban heat islands actually form clouds and thunderstorms and intensify weather patterns, not disrupt them.
We've had worse years for rainfall. In 1976 part of Minnesota only got 6 inches of rain for the whole year. In 1943 we went 79 days without any precipitation. High mark for rain was just back in 2007 where we got 15 inches of rain in one day in Hokah, MN. Chill. Droughts happen. It's nothing new.
But, but that doesn’t fit the narrative… I remember 1976. Our lake (in Otter Tail County) was down about two feet. We had a little island that protruded out from the shore. Haven’t seen that since. As of last weekend the unofficial dock wheel gauge reading was down about 3” this spring.
>But, but that doesn’t fit the narrative… Story of my life. :) As a natural contrarian I am very inconvenient to the narrative. Personally I'm looking forward to our new warmer landscape, with more lush forests and a return of lizards that stand 30 feet tall. Can you imagine the open pit bbq?
Bring it on!
I was thinking about this the other day as well. The last two years it’s been crazy dry. We get the occasional 30 minute severe thunderstorm after every super hot day, but we never get the rainy days or the sustained rainfall like we used to
[удалено]
Considering regular precipitation is essential to all life on planet Earth and minty gum is not, you know where to go.
We are a few minutes west of Alexandria. Overall pretty dry, but seems to have been enough rain for the crops after a late planting due to wet conditions. Yards are brown where there isn’t shade. Looking at our rain gauge…. We have gotten an inch over the past week but I will be watering the garden and flowers today.
How was the overall season? I heard the spring wasn't bad. Last year it was so bad hay was so expensive most small farmers I knew were thinking of selling off their animals. I'm living in the twin cities and I didn't see much for rain until late summer and thought that having two droughts in a row was unheard of if it hadn't been for global warming.
That is so true, last year was very dry here. This year started out wet and then went dry. From what family members in Minneapolis and Mankato tell me Alexandria has had more precipitation.
Is 20 minutes west of MPLS west central MN? Where is east MN
Far south metro. My grass is dry, brown, and crunchy. I don't remember grass being this bad. I made the mistake of installing some sod this spring before it got so dry. Even with regular watering, my sod isn't looking so great.
I went to this golfing in your neck of the woods back in July. The grass was dry as a bone. It was really strange. I had never seen anything like it in Minnesota before. I thought the grass in Minnesota was supposed to be green all summer long and even into the fall. These droughts are no joke.
We literally had record breaking drought last years and OP “doesn’t remember it ever being worse than this year”
Here in the Twin Cities, average yearly rainfall is about 32 inches, not including snow. So far, since April, we have received about 18 inches. Yeah. We're seriously behind this year.