Statewide Iowa — The La Niña weather system often brings Iowa and the Midwest an above-normal helping of precipitation, but even though the pattern is expected to stick around for yet another winter, we’re still suffering with drought.
Doug Kluck, the climate services director for the Central Region of the National Weather Service, says there would normally be a lot more rainfall, especially in the Missouri River basin.
The expected amount of precip simply hasn’t been materializing, he says, and it’s unclear whether that will change with the snowpack in the winter season ahead.
Kluck says this situation is what adds to so much climate prediction uncertainty.
The National Climate Prediction Center is forecasting this La Niña will fade away by early spring. The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows 80 percent of Iowa is either abnormally dry or in some level of drought.
