One beautiful day after another can only mean trouble.

After the third-driest May on record and a rainless opening to June, the metro area was officially categorized as drought-stricken Thursday by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The unofficial signs have included young gardens crying for water, and lawns and freeway embankments wearing a dry, mid-August yellow.

"We're having to water like crazy," said LuAnn Olson, who gardens with more than two dozen friends and neighbors at East Whittier Garden in Minneapolis.

"Given that there's enough time in a day to keep it watered, it's actually been a

good year for growing," Olson added, noting the abundance of sun and the garden's official access to a nearby fire hydrant for water.

Although June is normally the wettest month of the year in the Twin Cities, so far it has brought stepped-up lawn-sprinkling restrictions to some metro cities, the closing of the Lake Minnetonka outlet into Minnehaha Creek to preserve lake levels, and an unnerving early-season shrinkage at the edges of lakes, wetlands and holding ponds.

The unusual early-season conditions have prompted some other alerts. Beginning today, the Department of Natural Resources will not issue open burning permits in Anoka, Chisago, Isanti, Sherburne, Washington and Wright counties, because of dry conditions. No open burning will be permitted until what the department calls "significant rainfall" reduces the risk of wildfires. (Open burning is generally prohibited anyway in incorporated areas.) Similarly, the DNR posted an "extreme" fire danger rating for the 11-county metro area.

Last week, the city of Blaine raised its summer lawn-sprinkling restrictions a notch by banning afternoon sprinkling. But suburban cities, most of which draw their water from underground, appear to have enough water for emergencies and to meet the demands of summer sprinkling, said Chris Elvrum, manager of water supply planning for the Metropolitan Council.

Minneapolis, which draws its water from the Mississippi River, has not invoked watering restrictions since the heat and drought of 1988.

Repeating patterns

The drought designation for the metro area reflects an intensification of dry conditions for the region. Since January 2008, 13 of 17 months have had precipitation below the 30-year norm.

It also underscores how the driest weather has hit during the months that should be the wettest. This May was the fifth straight May with below-normal precipitation. The last five Junes and the last six Julys have also been below normal.

While challenging for gardeners and farmers, the current dry spell has been mitigated by relatively cool weather, noted Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay.

"Other than brown lawns and some long-term lake levels going down, it's difficult to see lot of impacts," he said. "I haven't heard of any negative impacts on crops yet." Statewide, 77 percent of the newly emerged corn crop was labeled either good or excellent in the season's first ratings, posted Monday.

Indeed, parts of Minnesota have been receiving comfortable amounts of moisture. International Falls to the north and Rochester to the south both received above-normal precipitation in May. (International Falls also saw half an inch of snow.)

The metro area could be looking at some moisture in the short term. The National Weather Service is calling for a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms across southern Minnesota on Saturday.

Staff writer Bob von Sternberg contributed to this report. Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646