Rainfall eliminates ‘exceptional’ drought in eastern Iowa

Extreme drought still grips nearly a quarter of the state. (Courtesy of U.S. Drought Monitor)

by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch
October 19, 2023

Substantial rainfall last week over a wide area near Cedar Rapids helped alleviate the worst drought conditions in the state, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor report on Thursday.

Exceptional drought — the agency’s worst dryness designation — for weeks had persisted in several east-central Iowa counties, primarily in Benton and Linn. It has been downgraded to ‘extreme’ by the Drought Monitor.

Most of that area had 2 or 3 inches of rain last week, which was overall very wet and colder than normal, State Climatologist Justin Glisan reported this week.

The statewide precipitation average was about 1.85 inches — nearly three times what is normally expected. The state also averaged temperatures of nearly 3 degrees below normal.

Despite the improvements, about 94% of the state is suffering from some measure of drought. That includes an area that stretches from Iowa’s northern border to its southern border — and occupies nearly a quarter of the state — that suffers from extreme drought, the second-to-worst designation.

The state’s drought is still among the worst it’s been in a decade. There is adequate moisture in 43% of the state’s topsoil and 26% of the subsoil for growing crops, according to a Monday report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Drought conditions are expected to remain in most of the state through the end of January, the federal Climate Prediction Center projected on Thursday.

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