Iowa

Back so soon? After summer respite, drought returns to portions of Iowa

Published

2 months ago

September 19, 2024

Back so soon? After summer respite, drought returns to portions of Iowa

Drought, Iowa’s unwelcome visitor, is creeping back into the corners of the state after a respite through the summer months.

The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor, posted Thursday, shows moderate drought in Fremont County in far southwest Iowa and in almost all of Clayton County as well as portions of Winneshiek, Allamakee, Fayette, Dubuque, Chickasaw and Bremer counties in northeast Iowa.

Meanwhile, after a warm, dry spell that has endured since mid-August, the rest of Iowa is abnormally dry, the Drought Monitor shows.

Rain coming, but more dry air follows

Even with rain expected in the short term, National Weather Service Meteorologist Craig Cogil said the outlook “dries out again” once it passes.

Iowa drought respite was brief

Iowa was drought-free for the first time in almost four years at the end of May. The state had been experiencing drought conditions since July 7, 2020, making it the longest drought since 1954-1959.

Additional rain came in June and July, at times too much, resulting in record flooding in northwest Iowa in late June.

Long-term deficit aids drought’s quick return

Cogil said the quick return of drought was aided by a long-term deficit of soil moisture. Since Jan. 1, 2020, he said, the southwest two-thirds of Iowa has experienced a 20-to-30-inch deficit in precipitation.

“Things get worse quicker than they normally would when we are already low on soil moisture,” he said.

However, drought conditions now should not affect this year’s harvest, and the lack of precipitation will be less of a concern going into the winter when soils freeze, he said.

“But if dry conditions persist into spring and summer, that would be a concern,” he said.

Crops OK, but pasture could be a concern for farmers

Aaron Sqaeugling, an Iowa State University Extension field agronomist for southwest Iowa, acknowledged that conditions are dry in his area, but this late in the season, the biggest impact is on pastures needed to graze livestock.

As for corn and soybeans, the dry conditions may somewhat reduce the predicted record yields, but should provide for an “early and fast harvest” with little need for extra drying, Sqaeugling said.

On the positive side for livestock producers, he said the abundance of rain through the growing season provided for better-than-normal hay crops.

“The one thing we may be short of is fall pasture,” he said.

Water utility takes step to ensure supply

As of Sept, 11, Des Moines Water Works had raised flashboards on its Raccoon River dam to increase water depth around its intakes there, according to a posting on its Facebook page.

Winter could limit further moisture loss

Once the crops are in and colder winter air arrives, evaporation will be reduced considerably and could limit further moisture losses, Cogil said.

“There has been a long-term shortage of precipitation since 2020, but we did get a nice break earlier this summer,” he said.

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.

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Iowa

Big 12 football power rankings: Iowa State on top entering final game of season

Published

8 hours ago

December 3, 2024

Press Room

Big 12 football power rankings: Iowa State on top entering final game of season

Thanks to a three-game win streak to end the year, the Iowa State football team finds itself headed to Dallas for the Big 12 Conference championship game.

Awaiting the Cyclones (10-2) will be red-hot Arizona State (10-2), who has also caught fire as the temperatures after dropped.

But where do both ISU and ASU fit in according to the Big 12 power rankings? Glad you asked, as we have compiled just that information for your reading pleasure.

Final Regular Season Big 12 Power Rankings

1. Iowa State (10-2)

2. Arizona State (10-2)

3. Colorado (9-3)

4. Kansas State (8-4)

5. BYU (10-2)

6. Baylor (8-4)

7. TCU (8-4)

8. Texas Tech (8-4)

9. Kansas (5-7)

10. West Virginia (6-6)

11. Cincinnati (5-7)

12. Utah (5-7

13. UCF (4-8)

14. Houston (4-8)

15. Arizona (4-8)

16. Oklahoma State (3-9)

The Cyclones showed their resilience, recovering from a two-game losing skid that could have ended the year for most teams. Instead, Matt Campbell got his team regrouped and refocused, winning the last three to secure the first-ever 10-win season in program history.

Iowa State is playing in the conference championship game for just the second time ever, as they lost to Oklahoma back in 2020.

With a healthy mix of passing and running the football, the Cyclones are equipped to handle any weather or defense. Speaking of that, Iowa State has a defensive of its own that buckles down inside the red zone.

It is honestly hard to not make a case for the Buffaloes and Deion Sanders as not only the best team in the Big 12, but the best option to compete in the College Football Playoff.

Led by likely Heisman winner Travis Hunter, Colorado is explosive on offense with Shedeur Sanders firing the pigskin all over the field. The defense, though, has been the issue for the Buffaloes, which is surprising considering who their head coach is.

If you were to match Colorado up against Iowa State, Arizona State or BYU on any given week, the odds would likely favor the Buffaloes. But they were unable to get the job done when they needed to the most, and will watch from their homes this weekend.

* Keys to victory for Iowa State vs. Arizona State

* Iowa State climbs the latest Coaches Poll Top 25

* Rocco Becht credits 2023 loss with driving Iowa State

* How to watch Iowa State vs. Arizona State for Big 12 title

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Iowa

Sandfort Good to Go, Traore a “Game-Time Decision” for Northwestern

Published

16 hours ago

December 2, 2024

Press Room

Sandfort Good to Go, Traore a “Game-Time Decision” for Northwestern

Just five weeks into the 2024-25 season, the Iowa men’s basketball team has faced its fair share of adversity in the injury department.

Josh Dix missed time with a wrist injury, Owen Freeman missed a game with an illness, Riley Mulvey and Even Brauns have had to sit out for a variety of health reasons, Chris Tadjo has missed games while in concussion protocol, Seydou Traore missed the first couple games of the season with a lower leg injury, sprained his ankle against USC-Upstate and is considered a “game-time decision” for Iowa’s matchup with Northwestern on Tuesday, and Cooper Koch is out indefinitely after an injury he sustained in practice.

Though Payton Sandfort hasn’t missed any time yet, he’s also been nursing a wrist injury that took place against Washington State. The senior forward hasn’t seen the injury bug bite this hard and this frequently in his four years with the program.

“It’s just super unlucky what’s going on with everybody,” Sandfort said. “We delt with it a little bit before Eastern Illinois when we got beat here [two years ago]. We had a lot of guys out. That would’ve been the last time we really delt with something like this.”

Sandfort recognizes the team-wide health issues have made it a little more difficult for him to bounce back, too.

“There have probably been times where I’ve been on the floor when I shouldn’t have been,” he said. “I was just trying to keep being the leader, even if I wasn’t 100%.”

Sandfort’s wrist injury reared its ugly head in Iowa’s 77-69 loss to Utah State just under a couple weeks ago. Regarded as one of the top shooters in the Big Ten — if not the country — Sandfort shot 4-of-18 from the field and 1-of-13 from three.

“I just wasn’t good enough,” Sandfort said following the loss. “If I’m myself tonight, we win. I take 100% responsibility for it. … I just can’t really do much, in life or in basketball right now. I’ve got to be able to make those shots anyway.”

In the meantime, players at the end of the bench have picked up some of the slack from regular rotation players — like him, Traore or Koch.

“I think a lot of guys on our team have done a really good job of stepping up,” Sandfort said. “Riley has played really good minutes. Carter (Kingsbury) is a really good player. He’s going to keep playing, he’s been playing well. A lot of guys have been waiting their turn for years. … I’m proud of the way the guys have stepped up.”

Going forward, Sandfort is framing the extra minutes at the end of the bench as a positive.

“It’s brought our team closer together,” he said. “A lot of other leaders have emerged from this. We’re more together because of it. Once everybody is back out there, we’ll have a lot of weapons that have had playing time this year and can contribute to winning games in the Big Ten.”

Now ten days removed from that woeful shooting performance against Utah State and currently at the tail end of a week off from playing, Sandfort said his wrist is “good” and that he’d “figured some things out” with the injury.

“I figured out how to get it better,” he said. “I feel comfortable, and I have my tools back. So I’m good to go.”

Fran McCaffery affirmed that the break over Thanksgiving was good for his team’s second-leading scorer.

“He’s had to deal with [the injury] for a while now,” McCaffery said. “I give him credit because he keeps grinding. A lot of guys would shut it down and make excuses. He just keeps plugging away.”

With Sandfort and potentially Traore in the lineup, Iowa will face off with the Northwestern (6-2) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be broadcast on Peacock.

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See where Iowa women’s basketball is ranked in the Week 5 Associated Press top 25

Published

24 hours ago

December 2, 2024

Press Room

See where Iowa women’s basketball is ranked in the Week 5 Associated Press top 25

Moving on up.

One week after cracking the Associated Press top 25 at No. 22, Iowa women’s basketball comes in at No. 17 in this week’s rankings. The Hawkeyes (8-0) put together another perfect week with wins over Rhode Island and BYU at the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico.

Defense has been the name of the game in Jan Jensen’s first month as head coach. Iowa has already held foes under 60 points five times, three of which came against power-conference opponents. The Hawkeyes’ schedule, though, is about to intensify.

Two of Iowa’s next three games are against ranked teams — Saturday vs. Tennessee in Brooklyn, then home versus No. 20 Iowa State on Dec. 11 — before starting Big Ten play at No. 24 Michigan State on Dec. 15.

Latest Associated Press women’s basketball top 25

UCLA (8-0) (25)
UConn (6-0) (7)
South Carolina (7-1)
Texas (7-0)
LSU (9-0)
USC (6-1)
Maryland (8-0)
Duke (8-1)
TCU (8-0)
Notre Dame (5-2)
Oklahoma (6-1)
Ohio State (7-0)
Kansas State (7-1)
Kentucky (7-0)
West Virginia (8-1)
North Carolina (7-1)
Iowa (8-0)
Ole Miss (5-2)
Alabama (8-0)
Iowa State (6-2)
Illinois (6-1)
Louisville (5-2)
Michigan (7-1)
Michigan State (8-0)
Nebraska (6-1)

Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.

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