As the summer begins winding down into the warmest and driest period of the year, moisture levels are in a little bit better shape than they were earlier this year.
Daryl Ritchison is North Dakota’s state climatologist. He says despite that, about half the state is still pretty dry – from the southwest corner up to the northeastern corner, and west of all that – everything is abnormally dry. In addition, a pocket of that northeastern corner is currently in a moderate drought, as well as the central portion of western North Dakota that borders Montana. Ritchison helps compile weekly data to make recommendations to the US Drought Monitor, and says that southwesternmost corner may hop out of that abnormally dry classification this week, if his recommendations are taken. Otherwise… it’s still pretty dry in the state, and for this time of year, that can present issues.
"We are now getting into really, the driest part of the summer and in some ways the driest part of the year. You know, granted, we average way more precipitation in August than we do in the wintertime - but, we have so much evaporation potential from July through Labor Day - that most years, we get more evaporation than precipitation. If we live in North Dakota long enough, we know that the spigot just turns off sometimes. So if we would go, you know after we get through these rains this week, two or three weeks with very little rainfall, things would dry off in a big hurry in some parts of the state."
Rains in more populated areas of North Dakota have helped to green up and improve conditions, and Ritchison says because of this public perception may suggest that drought conditions are over. But he says that is not the case so far in 2025.