Drought cuts deeper across Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The drought keeps getting deeper across Minnesota.

New maps from the U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday show that 96 percent of the state is in a moderate to extreme drought, up from 77 percent a week earlier.

The driest parts of the state include several counties in northwestern Minnesota and several counties from southwestern to south-central Minnesota.

Only two parts of the state aren't in drought, but they're both rated abnormally dry —Cook County at the northeastern tip of Minnesota, and a patch of Scott, Dakota, Rice and Goodhue counties south of the Twin Cities.