Drought expands in Iowa despite heavy rains

by Jared Robust

Drought situations worsened in southeast Iowa prior to now week — the place there was little to no rain — and the general areas of drought statewide expanded regardless of some heavy rainfall, in keeping with the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The worst drought in northwest Iowa was comparatively unchanged within the Drought Monitor’s newest report on Thursday.

Heavy rainfall of as much as 4 inches that bisected the state from its southwest nook to its northeast alleviated some dryness in southwest and central Iowa. Northeast Iowa has been largely moist all year long.

The difficulty lies to the southeast, the place greater than a dozen counties had lower than a half inch of rain final week. The higher a part of three counties had none, in keeping with a weekly climate report by State Climatologist Justin Glisan.

There, the areas categorized as having average and extreme drought expanded. They haven’t but been deemed “excessive,” the second-worst classification that has been contained to a smaller pocket of northwest Iowa for a lot of the yr. “Distinctive” is the worst classification.

The Drought Monitor’s assessments are usually based mostly on a wide range of climate information, soil-moisture indicators, the motion of floor water and native observations.

In southeast Iowa, about 10% of the soil has ample moisture for crops, in keeping with a U.S. Division of Agriculture report on Monday. Lower than a 3rd of the soil of southwest Iowa has ample moisture. Examine that with northeast Iowa, the place about 90% of soil has adequate water for crops.

Statewide crop situations stabilized prior to now two weeks after a month of declines that accelerated in August.

Drought Monitor projections point out the state’s drought will persist in September and can probably develop in far southern Iowa. The one space of the nation the place drought situations are predicted to enhance are in far southern states, together with Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is a part of the States Newsroom, a community of comparable information bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.