The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows dry conditions expanded in Iowa in the last week of May.
The DNR’s Jessica Reese McIntyre says while things expanded overall, we did see the worst drought area go away.
“The little pockets of severe drought in northwest Iowa were recently alleviated,” she says. We went from around 57% of the state having no dry conditions to around 28%. The majority of the areas are categorized at the lowest level, called extremely dry, with the rest listed at moderate drought. Of course, the moderate drought is mostly concentrated up in the northwest corner of the state where we’d expect it, and there’s a little bit along the (Mississippi) river, but that is kind of catching something that’s called a flash drought,” she says.
Reese McIntyre says the flash drought is an area that pops up, but is not expected to last very long.
While rain is in the forecast over the next several days, Reese McIntyre says the signals for June show things could be drier.
“If you were to draw a diagonal line across Iowa and then in the northwest half of the state, that looks to have below normal precipitation chances,” she says.
Reese McIntyre says it looks like the northwest area is going to continue to struggle with dry conditions.
The one benefit of the dry weather is that farmers have been able to make good progress in planting. Reese McIntyre says farmers are going to want some rain soon to help the new crops.
This story is courtesy of our affiliate Radio Iowa
