Just one-tenth of an inch of rain falls in May, so far

Reed Anfinson
Publisher

For the Benson area, May has provided just one-tenth of an inch of rain. All the storms that have brought torrential rains to southern Minnesota have avoided the west central counties of the state.

Last Thursday’s U.S. Drought Monitor show the western 80% of Swift County abnormally dry, the first stage of a drought. All of Stevens and Grant counties, the western half of Pope, and much of both Lac qui Parle and Big Stone counties were also abnormally dry.

May 1973 holds the record for the driest on record with 65 hundredths of an inch of rain followed by 1959 with 73 hundredths of an inch. The wettest May on record was in 1953 when 10.45 inches was recorded.

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