This past winter and spring there was much talk about how dry this summer was going to be and drought 17 would continue this year. For me, I reminded everyone that historically, we never really had to years as dry as 2017 in a row and odds favored a more normal summer for precipitation, in other words a much improved growing season for the area. Since June 1, the beginning of meteorological summer, most of North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota have recorded 100 to 130% of normal precipitation, so near or above average so far. The big exception is the central Red River Valley recording around 75 percent of average.
Daryl Ritchison