Lincoln, Nebraska — Since the last time we featured the US Drought Monitor three weeks ago, significant changes have taken place — and none of them are for the better.
At the beginning of August, most of the four-county KIWA primary coverage area, with the exception of most of Lyon County, was in the “abnormally dry” category, or “D0.” Most of Lyon County was in “D1” or moderate drought, and there was a small patch of moderate drought in southern O’Brien County and southeast Sioux County.
Three weeks later, according to the US Drought Monitor in Lincoln, Nebraska, most of the four-county area is now in “D1” or moderate drought. The exceptions now are most of Osceola County and small slivers of eastern Lyon and northern O’Brien counties. There’s more bad news. A small sliver of northern Lyon County is now in “D2” or “severe drought”. That area actually extends into Minnesota and South Dakota, with a small patch of extreme drought on both sides of the Minnesota/South Dakota border near Pipestone.
The drought monitor map shows most of the drought and dry conditions in Iowa are in the northwest quarter of the state. Almost 70 percent of the state is not experiencing dry conditions at all. About half of a percent is in severe drought, nearly 20 percent is in moderate drought, and a little over 10 percent is “abnormally dry.”
We may get a little help in the next six to ten days, as the extended forecast calls for better-than-even chances of above-normal precipitation. However, according to the official NOAA Climate Prediction Center Monthly Outlook for September, the 30-day precipitation forecast for our area shows a weak tilt toward below-normal precipitation.
