IARN — While most of northern Iowa continues to deal with drought conditions, the U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday showed some improvement for areas in the southern part of the state.
Iowa State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan says many counties in southern Iowa were taken out of the D0 Abnormally Dry category. Currently, all drought coverage for Iowa is either in central or northern Iowa.
“The reason for the (D0) removal,” said Glisan, “was the rainfall that we had across most of the state recently, but across southern Iowa, we had totals in the range of 1 to 3 inches.”
Glisan says Iowa farmers have had a great window to get crops planted at a solid pace, although there is concern for growers in northwest Iowa, specifically, where drought conditions have reached the D2 – or severe – level.
“We would need normal and above-average rainfall moving forward to really keep drought conditions status quo, or to start chipping away at those precipitation deficits,” said Glisan.
Good news for the coming week, says Glisan. Rain is in the forecast for much of the state.
“We are seeing a shift in the configuration in which the outlooks going toward the end of May show us elevated chances of warmer and wetter conditions,” said Glisan. “Elevated signals do suggest we are going to get into a wetter pattern.”
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor can be viewed here.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
Image Source: NOAA
