Lincoln, Nebraska — The recent rains have backed northwest Iowa down on the drought scale.
According to the US Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, our entire four-county area of O’Brien, Sioux, Osceola, and Lyon counties were all solidly in the “D2” or “Severe Drought” stage on the previous weekly drought monitor map. And this past week, when the map was released, most of that area had been changed to “D1,” or “Moderate Drought.”
There is still some “D2” showing in Sioux County. Nearly the southwest half of Sioux County is still in “D2.” That patch continues in an arc, with its center in the Westfield area, and stretches out to about the Remsen area, so about three-quarters of Plymouth County and almost the northwest half of Woodbury County is also in that patch.
The patch actually goes into South Dakota and Nebraska as well, and, in fact, also includes a small area of “D3” or “Extreme Drought” on the South Dakota and Nebraska line. Those states continue to be in more drought than Iowa.
Iowa had about 11 percent “D2” or “Severe Drought” on the previous map, with 2 percent on the latest map.
