(Des Moines) The latest U.S. drought monitor released on Thursday shows the drought deepening border to border across southern Iowa.
State Climatologist Justin Glisan says below-normal rainfall across southern Iowa over the last 45-days, coupled with warm temperatures and low humidity, has caused an atmosphere of thirst.
Extreme to severe drought conditions continue for portions of northwest Iowa, particularly in the counties of Cherokee, Monona, Plymouth, and Woodbury.
D3 droughts are analyzed in percentiles versus 100 years; Glisan says a D3 drought would not appear at a given location once but every 30 or 50 years. However, Glisan says over the last seven days, heavy rains of two, three, and up to five inches fell over the top tier of counties along the Iowa-Minnesota border, showing improvement in this part of the state.
Justin Glisan says the culprit for this hot and dry weather is a high-pressure dome sitting over the middle of the U.S. for the past month and month and a half.
The forecast high today in southwest Iowa is 91 degrees, 94 degrees on Saturday, 88 degrees on Sunday, and 82 degrees on Monday, with a chance for rain.
