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Even with a strong chance of showers this week, the drought outlook for the area has only gotten worse.

According to the US Drought Monitor, the area of extreme drought that has been hugging Rochester and Olmsted County has expanded to include nearly the entire northern half of Mower County as well as stretching into Dodge and Steele counties along with a large northwestern chunk of Fillmore County.

Meanwhile, a large swath of the state reaching from the southeastern corner of Minnesota, through the Twin Cities and up to Red Lake is considered to be in an extreme drought.

The entire rest of the state is either in a moderate drought or abnormally dry.

A chance of rain could help the area a little bit this weekend.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures will dip somewhat with the incoming chance of rain, starting with a 50-60% chance of storms and rain Saturday and a 90% chance of showers Sunday.

A high in the mid-80s is predicted Saturday, only to drop to the mid-70s Sunday.

As of Thursday the area has received 17.71 inches of precipitation on the year, well below the 23.24 inches of normal precipitation and two inches below last year’s amount at this time of 19.37%.