Uneven rainfall creates significant disparities in soil moisture – Iowa Capital Dispatch

About 8.5 inches of rain fell in western Iowa’s Little Sioux last week — a record amount in seven days for the town that has been suffering from severe drought. In much of northeast Iowa, there was little or none.

That contributed to a growing disparity in soil moisture that is available for the state’s corn and soybean crops, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Monday. The southwest half of the state had considerably more rainfall last week than the northeast.

In southwest Iowa, about 69% of the area has adequate or surplus topsoil moisture for crops. In northeast Iowa, about 24% does.

As a whole, the state averaged 1.49 inches of rain last week, which is about 50% more than what is typically expected. There were wide areas of western and southern Iowa with 3 or more inches of rain.

That stands in contrast with the week prior, which had an average of .4 inches of rain, or less than half of what’s normal.

The overall condition of the state’s corn crop held steady: about 59% of it is rated good or excellent.

But soybeans regressed: about 53% are rated good or excellent — a decline of two percentage points from last week.

Livestock pastures continue to struggle amid ongoing drought conditions. About 83% of the state was suffering from some measure of drought before the rains, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and the USDA report said about 22% of pasture land is good or excellent.