Volume
3 Issue
10
July
25, 2006
Drought Is Officially Declared
July 21, 2006
The U.S. Drought Monitor Program of USDA and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Agency has officially designated northwestern,
north-central, and east-central portions of Minnesota to be in a
severe drought as of July 18th. Other regions of the state are
designated as moderate drought and the southern most counties are
shown as abnormally dry. See web site....
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
The drought was further enhanced by
the recent period of hot temperatures which motivated state agencies
to call a meeting of the Minnesota Drought Task Force, a group
formed in the 1980s to enhance coordination and communication among
public and private sector groups. The DNR Division of Waters serves
as host for these meetings. Historically drought has been shown to
severely impact the state's agriculture, forest resources, water
supply, water quality, river navigation, tourism, and utilities
(especially power supply). All of these interests have a stake in
discussing ways to mitigate drought impacts.
USDA Farm Service Agency already reports that 14 counties are
prepared to petition for federal emergency disaster declarations as
crop production has been dramatically reduced. Most of these
counties are in northwestern and central Minnesota. There is
speculation that the number of counties seeking such assistance may
double as the drought is expected to hang on into August, and
perhaps beyond.
The USGS reports that the volume of flow on many rivers in the
state is in the 20th percentile category or lower. On some rivers
flows are in the lowest 10 percent of historical measurements for
this time of year and on portions of the St Croix River, the flow
has never been lower in July than it is now. Historical flow data on
Minnesota's watersheds are available from the USGS web site....
http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/?m=real&w=map&r=mn
The low flow situation on Minnesota's watersheds favors more
development of algal blooms, slows the transition times for boats
and barges through locks and dams, and threatens power generation by
companies that rely on water intake from the rivers. It is expected
that water conservation practices will be widely emphasized around
the state, and further that the DNR will be suspending permits for a
number of surface water appropriators, though not as many as were
done in 1988.
We interrupt this story . . .
The situation took a small turn for the better during the
afternoon of July 25 with rain showers visiting much of the
northwest Minnesota region. Though lack of moisture remains an
important issue, the relief brought to some areas was very welcome .
. .
The ongoing drought situation can be monitored on our climate web
site....
http://www.climate.umn.edu
Mark Seeley, Extension Climatologist
University of Minnesota
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