Old Farmer’s Almanac: Expect Drought For Twin Ports Throughout August
One of the biggest headlines for the Twin Ports, and Minnesota as a whole, is that fact that we are seeing major drought conditions.
Just Thursday (July 22nd), the National Weather Service of Duluth updated the drought monitor for our area and it is still looking pretty dire. According to their report, most of the state is seeing moderate to severe drought conditions. Other areas to our west are seeing severe drought conditions.
It should be noted that the entire state is still seeing drought conditions of some sort but it ranges in severity. As for Duluth, we are experiencing moderate drought conditions.
Western and southern parts of Wisconsin are also seeing drought conditions, with Superior seeing abnormally dry conditions. This most recent update shows just how poor these conditions are for us right now, with a big need for rain.
The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center shared an outlook for late July into the first few days of August, and according to their forecast, there are no chances for heavy rain to make up for our deficit this far.
So with a fresh month upon us, will we finally get the rain fall we need? I wanted to know if there was even a chance so I went to the Old Farmer's Almanac. It should noted they make long-term weather predictions by region so not everyone follows their methodology.
No matter what you believe, they state that we will fall below our average in terms of rainfall throughout the month of August. This forecast extends to Duluth, Superior and surrounding areas.
Their outlook states that the first six days of the month will bring warm temperatures and a few thunderstorms off and on. From there through the eighteenth of the month, rain will be incredibly minimal, with a forecast of sunshine and hot temperatures.
Thunderstorms are expected on and off throughout the rest of the month from there. Unfortunately, our region is still expected to be just about an inch and a half. This is well below our average for the month and definitely well below what we need to get caught up and out of our drought.
So far, from the period of the first of January through July 20th, Duluth is experiencing its tenth driest year on record. This isn't a huge surprise, as other local meteorologists have echoed this same sentiment earlier in the month. Sadly, we never saw enough rain to make up for things.
It has definitely been a year for the record books thanks to all of the different weather patterns we have seen. We could still break some records too if we don't get rain and soon.
We could also go down in history for hot temperatures by the end of July. A Minnesota meteorologist is predicting Duluth will experience its hottest day of all time by the end of the month.