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May 29, 2009 6:57 pm US/Central
Sunny Skies Threaten Minnesota With Drought
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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Red-winged blackbirds have replaced waterfowl in what used to be a Maplewood wetland.
CBS
It's shaping up to be one of the top-three driest Mays on record. A severe drought started last summer in the east metro and most of central Minnesota is abnormally dry.
There are wetlands looking more like dry land, lakes with extra shoreline and dust-dry farm fields. All are signs of a worsening drought.
"We have two droughts going on. One is a short-term one that's just from this year. Another one we've had that we were never able to get rid of from 2008," said State Assistant Climatologist Pete Boulay.
Climatologists say the east Metro from Anoka to Dakota County, the hardest hit, is in a severe drought.
"Bad luck, just hasn't had the rain hit the east Metro as much as the west Metro," said Boulay.
That's obvious at what once was a wetland in Maplewood.
"It has never been like this in the three years that I've lived here," said Maplewood resident Donald O'Brien.
"We're not used to looking out there and seeing the ground. We're used to looking out and seeing water," said North St. Paul resident Jeff Eide.
Red-winged blackbirds have replaced waterfowl.
"We've always had a wonderful array of geese and ducks that nested all along in here. This is the first year you haven't seen the geese," said O'Brien.
Geese and ducks with their goslings and ducklings at Silver Lake in North St. Paul have a longer walk to the water this year. Blame a lack of snow and rain runoff.
"We're 10.82 inches short of normal now from 2008," said Boulay.
With crops in the ground, scientists say rain is critical now.
"What we'll have to have happen at least get an inch of water a week, and hopefully better than that, to begin to replenish things," explained Boulay.
The long-term forecast calls for cooler-than-normal temperatures in the next few weeks, which will slow the drought. As for rain, climatologists say we may get some, we may not.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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