Slight improvement in North Dakota drought conditions

BISMARCK, N.D. – A tiny section of North Dakota has been dropped from all drought categories, marking the first time since the beginning of the year that the entire state wasn’t in some stage of drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows the southeastern tip of Richland County is not considered to be in any of the five stages of drought. That’s an area equal to 0.2% of the state.

The monitor puts nearly 59% of the state in extreme drought, which is down from 65% last week.

About 3.8% is in exceptional drought, down from 5.6% last week.