Drought in Northern Aitkin, Minnesota

The northern part of the county was in D2 Severe Drought to begin the month with a tiny area of D3 Extreme Drought in the far northeastern corner. Rainfall for the month ended up around 1 to 2 inches above normal. Rainfall of 1 to 2 during the first two weeks of the month led to the removal of the area of D3 Extreme Drought with the update on the 19th. Another 1 to 2 inches of rainfall was received over the remainder of the month, but there was very little reduction of the area of D2 Severe Drought outside of the southwestern corner of the northern part of the county.

Drought conditions persisted across northeastern Minnesota during the month of October. Precipitation varied across the region with western areas from the Brainerd Lakes area northward to International Falls receiving slightly above normal precipitation for the month while areas to the east received below normal precipitation. Much of the region began the month with a mix of D2 Severe Drought and D3 Extreme Drought. As western areas saw a few days of rainfall during the second week of the month, some improvement was noted during the middle of the month with the removal of over half of the D3 Extreme Drought across the region. Some heavier rainfall towards the end of the month in the Brainerd Lakes was observed, but any improvement in the drought category did not occur until the first update in November.