MARSHALL — So far, this fall has been so dry, it’s set new records for Marshall. According to National Weather Service data, the Marshall area received only 0.15 inches of rain for the month of September.

“It’s quite a bit below normal,” said NWS meteorologist Jeff Chapman. “It broke the record of 0.18 inches from 1974.”

The normal amount of September rainfall for the Marshall area is about 3.06 inches, Chapman said. Over the past month, “a real locked-in upper air pattern” has kept rain out of the area, he said. It’s possible the pattern could change a little toward the end of October, but for the next week to 10 days, there’s no rain forecast in the Marshall area.

Having a month with very little rain has had a noticeable effect on drought conditions in southwest Minnesota. Maps released by the U.S. Drought Monitor last week showed the southwest corner of Minnesota, including Lyon, Murray, Pipestone, and much of Lincoln and Redwood Counties, are now in a moderate drought.

“The cracks in the ground are getting bigger all the time,” said Carolyn Olson, who farms near Cottonwood.

While area farmers said the dry weather has made it easier to harvest crops this fall, it also brings concerns. “It’s great for drying down the corn,” Lake Benton area farmer Bob Worth said of the weather. “But there’s a lot of bad parts.”

Olson and Worth said the abnormally dry weather made it harder to do fall tillage, and also brought fire dangers. Olson said at her family’s farm, they periodically used leaf blowers to get flammable dust off the combine during harvest.

With dry and clear weather, area farmers were making progress through the harvest, moving from soybeans to corn. “People are just going really steady,” Olson said.

Monday’s USDA crop progress and condition reports said the soybean harvest is 68% complete, and running about six days ahead of last year. About 82% of Minnesota’s corn crops were mature, and 15% of the corn harvest was complete as of this week, the reports said.

Chapman said dry conditions have created risks for fires in the region. With dry grass and crops, and harvest going on, “We’re definitely dealing with elevated fire danger right now,” he said. However, right now the Marshall area is not seeing high winds, which would increase the fire risk even more.

There might be a chance for more precipitation in southern Minnesota this winter, according to the NWS Climate Prediction Center. In October through December, southern Minnesota had equal chances of getting either above or below-normal precipitation and temperatures, according to seasonal outlooks released Sept. 19. The outlooks for November through January show Minnesota leaning toward a chance for above-normal precipitation.