Minnesota weather: Rainfall, crashing temps is perfect late fall combo for our drought
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Our midweek weather has been surreal for much of the Twin Cities and the southern half of Minnesota. Temperatures and dew points were in the 50s and 60s giving us a summer feel. But temperatures crash Thursday afternoon going from the 60s to sub-freezing in just a few hours. While this is less than ideal for most of us, it's actually really good news for our drought.
From late Tuesday through Thursday, much of the state has received more rain than what we have seen in the last couple of months. Totals still varied wildly with widespread 1-2 inches from Marshall and Morris, east-northeastward toward Duluth and the South Shore. There were even some areas that received more than 3 inches of much-needed rainfall.
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Rainfall totals in the Twin Cities metro from Tuesday through Thursday morning.
Rainfall totals across Minnesota from Tuesday through Thursday morning.
But the rainfall was quite splotchy across the Twin Cities with a swath of 1-2 inches in the southeast metro from Lakeville to Cottage Grove and Hudson, Wisconsin. And then another 1-inch-plus area in the northwest metro. However, the heart of the metro missed out on some of the heftier totals with most spots staying well under an inch. Officially 0.88 inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Drought conditions across Minnesota.
While this certainly helped much of the area, the heaviest and most widespread beneficial rain just missed the driest areas on our drought monitor generally staying just north of the red shaded zones that are in extreme drought.
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But the good news is that our quick jump into the freezer, and sitting there for the foreseeable future, will quickly start to freeze the soil. This will lock in our recent moisture as the soil forms a "crust" preventing moisture from getting in or out, keeping all of that rain locked away until the ground thaws in the spring ... when we hopefully have wetter times.
It's this same "crust" that prevents any of our winter snow from actually helping our soil moisture, which is why winter snowpack doesn't often help us get out of a drought. However, what the snow does do is help replenish area lakes and ponds when it melts. So snowfall may not help soil moisture, it's still very beneficial.