A few weeks ago, we Northern News Now meteorologists (all five of us) were a bit puzzled when the Minnesota DNR announced restrictions due to drought. Drought? We were only an inch and a half shy of normal for the year. This shows that meteorology and climatology are only cousins. We had to dig to find out that “little” amount can cause trouble, too. Indeed, all of northern Minnesota is under category two severe drought right now.
Hope for relief is mixed. Rain in September may be a half inch shy of normal. But, cooler temps could help slow evaporation and offer some assistance. August came down from some serious highs in July. After being 4.2 degrees warmer than normal in July, we went to one degree cooler than normal in August. Crunching the numbers for the first eight months of 2026, we find that the year is 0.2 degree warmer than normal which is well within the realm of normal climate variability. September is expected to continue the cooling trend with temps prognosticated to run two degrees cooler than normal.
September will start with a warm spell which could run the 1st to the 6th. The 7th to 10th may become cool and showery. A cool and sunny period could run the 11th to the 16th. The 17th to 30th appear to be a period with cool temps and scattered showers. The long range forecast indicates this cool zone won’t last forever. Super El Nino is still expected to bring a mild winter and evidence may start being felt in October.
That could hold a certain charm in reducing greenhouse gases as we save on heating bills but we snowmobile fans would sure feel short changed! Either way, hopefully we still get enough of some form of precip to kill the latest drought.
