Drought Information Statement for NE Minnesota & NW Wisconsin Valid December 21, 2024 Issued By: NWS Duluth, MN Contact Information: Next Update: Friday, January 17, 2025 Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/DLH/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. Please visit https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/ for regional drought status updates. Severe Drought conditions have improved marginally in northern Minnesota. 1 U.S. Drought Monitor Drought intensity and Extent D2 (Severe Drought): Western Iron Range and Leech Lake area. D1 (Moderate Drought): Nearly all of the rest of the Northland. D0: (Abnormally Dry): Along the International Border, in the St. Croix River Valley, and Cook County. Recent Change in Drought Intensity One Week Drought Monitor Class Change. Drought Worsened: Not Applicable. No Change: Much of the Northland that didn’t see drought improve. Drought Improved: Parts of the Iron Range. 1-Week Monitor Class Change (replace CHS with your WFO ID): https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/chng/png/current/current_wfoCHS_chng_1W.png Comparison of current drought monitor with drought monitor from 4 weeks ago for a desired WFO station: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/chng/png/current/current_wfoCHS_chng_4W.png Changing date: Replace where it says “current” twice with the date in terms of “YYYYMMDD” Ex; July 5th, 2022 → 20220705 Precipitation Regional precipitation in the past month ranges from slightly-below normal to above normal. Areas along the North Shore and along and North of the Iron Range have seen the most above normal precipitation. Areas along and south of Highway 2 are at to below normal precipitation. Precipitation (sum of liquid and melted frozen) that was observed in the Northland over the last month Other options: Precipitation Station Data from USGS: Homepage: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis Precipitation Reports for Basins from WCC Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BPrecip_8_2022.pdf Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ Temperature Temperatures have been around normal over the last month. Temperatures that were observed in the Northland over the last month Summary of Impacts Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Streamflows are running below to near normal for northeast Minnesota. Northwest Wisconsin streamflows are normal to above-normal (USGS Streamflow). With ice cover coming in, many gauges are affected by ice this time of year. Agricultural Impacts Pockets of well-below normal soil moisture in northeast Minnesota, but the vast majority of the region is only below normal to normal soil moisture (Soil Moisture) Fire Hazard Impacts Fire danger is Low for north-central and northeast Minnesota (MN Fire Danger). Fire danger is also Low for northwest Wisconsin (WI Fire Danger). Other Impacts Unknown at this time. Mitigation Actions Burn Restrictions - No burn restrictions. Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts Northeast Minnesota - Streams are running much-below to below normal in much of northeast Minnesota, but a few flowing at normal rates. Northwest Wisconsin - Streams are running around normal in northwest Wisconsin Image Caption: USGS 7 day average streamflow HUC map valid 11/21/2024 Percentile Class of Streamflow For western states, snow water information A table with current reservoir & lake levels/storage Groundwater info Soil moisture (can also be included in agricultural impacts section) HYDROLOGICAL STATUS (Be sure to mention the source of the impact that’s being cited) Streamflow USGS: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=nj Geography Availability: United States State: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=nj Use drop down menu to change state on website (excluding Pacific Islands) Pacific Islands: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/gu/nwis/rt Water-Resources Region Date Real-Time (To access any of the time series below, hover cursor over “Current Streamflow” on the left side of the website. Other time scales not available for Pacific Islands) Yesterday 7-Day 14-Day 28-Day Month Homepage: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index.php?id=ww Soil Moisture Drought.gov: https://www.drought.gov/topics/soil-moisture Geography Availability: CONUS National Date Daily Homepage: https://www.drought.gov/ Groundwater USGS: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/current/?type=gw&group_key=state_cd Geography: Availability: United States Use drop-down menu called “Geographic Area” to access area desired. Date Real-Time Homepage: https://www.usgs.gov/ Reservoir and Lake Levels USGS: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/current/?type=lake&group_key=state_cd Geography Availability: United States Stations separated by state Date Real-Time Homepage: https://www.usgs.gov/ WCC Reservoir Storage: Geography Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BRes_8_2022.pdf? Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Date: Monthly Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ SnowPack WCC Geography Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BSnow_6_2022.pdf? Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Date Monthly Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted Homepage https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ Agricultural Impacts Pockets of well-below normal soil moisture in northeast Minnesota, but the vast majority of the region is only below to normal soil moisture Fire Hazard Impacts Significant Wildland Fire Potential conditions are normal for January. Seven Day Precipitation Forecast A weak clipper moves through northeast Minnesota this evening into Saturday morning to bring a glaze of ice and light snowfall up to a few inches along and north of the Iron Range. A larger weather system is forecast for Sunday to bring a tenth of an inch of liquid equivalent precipitation to most of the region, with parts of the Borderlands and Arrowhead seeing up to half-inch of liquid equivalent precipitation. South Shore snowbelt locations then see additional light snow chances Tuesday December 10th to Thursday December 12th. Amount of liquid equivalent precipitation forecast over the next seven days Rapid Onset Drought Outlook No rapid onset drought expected. Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Precipitation Outlook. Valid MM YYYY Long-Range Outlooks The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage Longer-term forecasts show no significant signals for either above normal or below normal temperatures for the month of January. Longer-term forecasts show a slight chance for above normal precipitation for the month of January. Drought Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage Drought is expected to persist across much of the Northland.