Lincoln, Nebraska (RI) — The latest Drought Monitor shows continued improvement in the state following more rain.
The monitor shows 45 percent of the state has no drought conditions — that’s up from 31 percent last week. Just 20 percent of the state was without drought at the start of this year. Around nine percent of the state has moderate drought, down from around 12 percent. Nearly 55 percent of the state is listed as abnormally dry, which is down from nearly 69 percent last week. The driest conditions are on the eastern and western edges of the state, with the southeast and south-central areas with the most counties under moderate or abnormally dry conditions.
In our part of northwest Iowa, the area of moderate drought is shrinking. Last week, about half of O’Brien County was in moderate drought. That has shrunk a little bit, but nearly all of Sioux County was in moderate drought as well last week, and now a large chunk in the middle of the county is only in the “abnormally dry” category and not in drought. There was no change in Lyon or Osceola counties, which remain nearly 100 percent in the “abnormally dry” category. A little further south, most of Plymouth County was also in moderate drought, and now that’s down to just a little more than half.
The data for the report is taken through Tuesday, and does not show the impact of the most recent rains.
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KIWA Staff Photo
