Iowa has no drought for first time in four years

The remaining drought in Iowa recently improved to an "abnormally dry" classification. (Courtesy of National Drought Mitigation Center)

Heavy rainfall last week eliminated the remaining pocket of drought in Iowa, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report.

It’s the first time in nearly four years that none of the state is experiencing drought and marks a significant turnaround from September, when Iowa was drier than it had been in a decade.

About 83% of the state had drought at the start of the year, and more than a third of Iowa had “extreme” drought — the second-to-worst classification of the Drought Monitor.

Since then, the state has had its sixth-wettest start to a year on record, according to Iowa State University data. There has been an average of about 17 inches of rain statewide — more than 40% greater than normal. Nearly half of that happened in May.

That helped end the state’s longest drought in about 70 years.

“We’ve really swung in the opposite direction for precipitation,” State Climatologist Justin Glisan said. “This has been a drought buster.”

The remaining drought was alleviated by substantial rainfall last week. The state averaged about 3.41 inches — which is more than triple what is normally expected — and the highest reported amount surpassed 8 inches.

That led to flooding near several swollen rivers, including the Cedar, Iowa and Mississippi rivers.

Significant gains in farm field moisture were noted this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On Sunday, about 97% of cropland topsoil had adequate or surplus moisture. That is almost double what it was a year ago.

However, about a quarter of the state is still abnormally dry — mostly in northeast Iowa.

“If we do see warmer and drier conditions in the summer, there is potential to see drought conditions develop again,” Glisan said.

Forecasts for the next week show that most of the state will get at least an inch of rain, with the heaviest amounts in western Iowa, according to the National Weather Service.

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