Other memorable drought years were 1976 and the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s . During the dust bowl , inappropriate farming techniques enhanced by years of drought conditions led to dust storms in Southern Minnesota and the other parts of the Midwest . Drought conditions also have helped spawn forest fires . In 1894 the Great Hinckley Fire destroyed Hinckley killing an estimated 459 people , and in 1918 a forest fire killed 453 people in the vicinity of Cloquet . More recently , in 2006 , the Cavity Lake Fire burned 31,830 acres ( 129 km ² ) in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Great Hinckley Fire
Great Hinckley Fire
Climate of Minnesota