Climate and Drought JunkThe final statistics for St. Cloud during July 2007 are now in. They show a warm month, but nothing like the heat of the last two Julys. On the other hand, our growing season rainfall now ranks as the 7th driest growing season on record and only the second growing season this dry since the 1930's. You can find more details on the July 2007 St. Cloud weather summary and in the totals at the bottom of the forecast section. The latest statewide summary of the drought from the State Climatology Office came out yesterday with links to the State Climatology Office Weekly Rainfall Map and a new DNR Waters Streamflow Report. The fire danger, as seen on the DNR Forestry/Fire Conditions page, continues to be very high from Long Prairie and Little Falls through the Twin Cities and in northeastern Minnesota. Lawn care tips can be found at the Minnesota DNR Waters lawn watering tips. The National Drought Mitigation Center's Drought Monitor made headlines last week as a swath of Minnesota from the St. Croix River through St. Cloud, the Twin Cities, the lower Minnesota River Valley to Mankato, and reaching to the Iowa border was upgraded to severe drought conditions. You can also look at the NWS Chanhassen drought page, which will likely be updated today or Tuesday. The new Minnesota Weekly Crop Progress and Condition Report shows that 78% of farms are short of topsoil moisture and 76% of pasture are rated as poor or very poor. 37% of the corn crop are rated poor. We're getting closer to the ragweed season, so the Saint Cloud pollen forecast from Pollen.com is running in the high end of the moderate rating in the 7's on a scale of 1 to 12. The dry conditions have kept this down for a while, but the peak season for ragweek is about two weeks away.
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