(Community First Broadcasting Staff Photo)Lincoln, Nebraska — The latest report from the US Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, is out — and there’s good news for our area.
While recent rains may be keeping farmers out of the fields, unable to harvest their crops — the good news is that much of the area is no longer experiencing drought or dry conditions.
In August, all four of our northwesternmost Iowa counties were quite dry, with mostly moderate drought except for Osceola County, where it was only “abnormally dry,” and extreme northern Lyon County, where severe drought was reported.
By last week, much of the drought had been eliminated, while most of the area remained “abnormally dry.” Southwest Sioux County and extreme northern Lyon County were still in moderate drought.
Now, this week, over half of our area is reporting “normal” conditions. That includes all of O’Brien County, all but extreme northern Osceola County, southeast Lyon County, and eastern Sioux County. The other parts of the area still reported “abnormally dry” conditions.
The Iowa Drought Monitor report, while released on Thursday, uses data compiled through early Monday morning. That means heavy rains that have swept through Iowa over the past few days are not reflected in the report.
This week’s Drought Monitor report shows about seven percent of Iowa is in a moderate drought and another eight percent is abnormally dry. The areas experiencing dry conditions are a very small spot along the Mississippi River near Dubuque and 20 counties in the northwest quadrant of Iowa.
Click here for the Drought Monitor’s Iowa map for this week.
