Drought recedes in southern Minnesota

Dry soil
From this...
MPR photo/Tim Post

(AP) - This summer's drought has receded in southern Minnesota because of heavy rains that brought flooding to some areas.

An updated map issued Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that abnormally dry conditions are over across roughly the southern fourth of the state.

Flooded car
...to this.
MPR photo/Mark Steil

But most of the rest of Minnesota remains abnormally dry or worse. Three pockets of extreme drought remain little-changed in west-central, east-central and northeastern Minnesota.

Twenty-four percent of the state is now free of drought conditions, an improvement from 13 percent last week. Besides the southern tier of the state, the drought has also missed a couple pockets of the Red River Valley.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)